Police ‘based Rangers probe on documentary’
Financial expert tells court of comment at interview
A BBC documentary formed the ‘whole basis’ of a doomed Rangers fraud probe, a court heard yesterday.
Financial expert Philip Duffy, 54, said Detective Chief Inspector Jim Robertson made the comment when he was giving a witness statement.
Mr Duffy also said he later heard DCI Robertson chant what sounded like a Rangers song.
Mr Duffy was giving evidence at the Court of Session hearing about a £7million compensation claim brought by business expert David Grier against Police Scotland and Scottish prosecutors. Mr Grier claims he should not have been arrested during the probe, which focused on alleged criminal activity during a takeover of Rangers.
The court had earlier heard that Mr Grier launched defamation proceedings against the BBC for its documentary The Men Who Sold the Jerseys.
Yesterday Mr Duffy – a special adviser for financial firm Duff & Phelps – told Mr Grier’s lawyer Andrew Smith, QC, that DCI Robertson made the comments at the end of his first interview.
Mr Smith read from a witness statement provided to the court by Mr Duffy. In it, Mr Duffy said: ‘He remarked the whole basis for him arresting the Duff & Phelps people was based upon the Panorama programme.’
Mr Smith stopped reading the statement and asked Mr Duffy: ‘Do you recall him saying that?’
Mr Duffy replied: ‘Yes. Definitely. 100 per cent.’
In the witness statement, Mr Duffy said: ‘I thought this was strange behaviour. I thought it was strange that a criminal arrest should proceed on the basis of a television programme.’
Mr Grier, who works for Duff & Phelps, is suing the Lord Advocate and Police Scotland claiming prosecutors had no evidence to justify him being arrested and charged. He is also suing Police Scotland’s Chief Constable for acting unlawfully when he was arrested during an investigation at Rangers.
The legal actions stem from a police probe into Rangers’ financial position during the last decade and the sale of the club to businessman Craig Whyte in 2011.
The hearing, before judge Lord Tyre, continues.
‘I thought this was strange behaviour’