Craig Whyte being made fall guy over Rangers, trial told

Former Rangers owner Craig Whyte is being portrayed as “the fall guy” over the takeover of the club, his fraud trial has been told.

Donald Findlay QC, defending Whyte, told jurors at the High Court in Glasgow that Whyte and previous owner Sir David Murray had been “ill-served” by their advisers in the run-up to the deal.

Whyte is accused of acquiring Rangers by fraud in May 2011. He denies the charge, and another under the Companies Act.

The court has heard the sale was eventually made to Whyte for £1 but came with a number of financial obligations, including the clearing of a large bank debt.

In his closing speech to the jury, Mr Findlay said Sir David made two “catastrophic mistakes” following the 2008 financial crisis, which were to entrust the running of the club to people who “didn’t have a clue what they were doing” and leaving everything to his advisers, who “let him down very, very badly”.

He said that when Whyte came forward proposing to buy the club, the advisers did not question where the money was to come from.

He told jurors: “By the time Mr Whyte’s proposal comes along, Rangers are beginning to decline, the playing squad were declining, the glory days were behind them, hard times were ahead and those running the club didn’t know what to do.

“Murray could no longer bankroll Rangers, there was no more money from Rangers or the bank.

“Mr Whyte comes along with a plan and thereafter Sir David Murray’s advisers are interested in ‘have you got the money? Have you got the money?’ The question being asked is money, money, money, week after week, month after month.

“What was the question they didn’t pursue to any extent at all?

“Where is it coming from? Because if that was the question that mattered, surely that was the question you would have expected your lawyer to ask on your behalf.

“They were not interested in where the money came from and we know this absolutely categorically.”

Mr Findlay also said advisers spent “not a single, solitary penny” checking out Whyte and his background.

He added that throughout the trial many witnesses have sought to absolve themselves from responsibility, taking the attitude “it wisnae me”.