Sale of Rangers for £1 ‘allowed Murray to keep metals business’
THE tycoon owner of Rangers was told by bankers he could keep another part of his business empire if he sold the club on, a court heard yesterday.
In 2011 Sir David Murray sold the Ibrox side for £1 to Craig Whyte, 46, who now faces fraud allegations at the High Court in Glasgow.
It is claimed Whyte bought the club fraudulently in the deal before it went into administration in 2012.
Yesterday the court heard how Sir David was told by bankers at Lloyds that if the sale went through he would be allowed to keep his Murray Metals firm.
Jurors have previously been told that Sir David’s empire owed the bank hundreds of millions, leading to the restructuring of his assets.
Sir David, 65, was said to have a sentimental attachment to the business because it was where he started his empire.
Whyte’s QC Donald Findlay asked senior Lloyds banker Ian Shanks if it had been the case that: ‘If the Rangers deal is done then the Murray Metals business can be acquired for £1?’ The witness agreed that had been the case and the club’s debt had also to be settled in the deal.
Mr Findlay then asked whether that had been ‘an incentive to get the deal done’, which Mr Shanks confirmed. The court also heard allegations that the club was being ‘throttled into submission’ by its bank at the time of its sale.
Club chairman Alastair Johnston made the remark in a letter to Mr Shanks in January 2011, months before Craig Whyte took over.
Johnston said Lloyds intended to ‘drain every single penny out of the club’ leaving ‘carnage’ as a result of policies which sought to eliminate debt of £18million.
He insisted Lloyds wanted to drain money from the club ‘to the extent Rangers as a thriving concern would be throttled into submission’.
In the letter, the now exchairman spoke of ‘carnage’ and referred to the ‘impoverished remains’ of the club.
Mr Findlay asked whether Lloyds wanted the club to go into administration, which Mr Shanks denied. Mr Shanks agreed with Mr Findlay’s assessment that Mr Johnston’s approach had been ‘this was everybody’s fault, but mine’.
The jury was also told Rangers wanted ticketing firm Ticketus to help them buy Nikica Jelavic from Rapid Vienna in 2010. They heard how there was contact between Mr Shanks and then Rangers chief executive Martin Bain, where it was said the Austrians ‘required the balance of transfer funds’ to be ‘cash backed’.
Rangers allegedly wanted to facilitate this by ‘seeking to increase the funding from Ticketus’ – but that there was to be no mention of the firm on the yearend accounts.
Mr Findlay asked Mr Shanks: ‘They hid the use of Ticketus?’ Mr Shanks replied: ‘Yes.’ Whyte denies a charge of fraud and a second allegation under the Companies Act.
The trial, before Judge Lady Stacey, continues.
‘Incentive to get the deal done’