‘Got away with murder’
Whyte cleared of fraud charges over Ibrox takeover But Johnston accuses him of ‘murdering’ Rangers
CRAIG WHYTE last night stood accused of the ‘murder of an institution’ — despite being dramatically cleared of all charges relating to his controversial takeover of Rangers.
Whyte had been accused of acquiring the Ibrox club by fraud in May 2011 and faced another charge under the Companies Act.
However, yesterday a jury returned a not guilty majority verdict after a six-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
A long-term vocal critic of Whyte, former Rangers chairman Alastair Johnston returned to the Ibrox board yesterday after being ousted following the controversial takeover six years ago.
And, speaking to the BBC, Johnston launched a savage attack on his old adversary, whose damaging stewardship of Rangers ended with the club liquidated in July 2012 and forced to apply to join the bottom tier of Scottish football.
Speaking before the court verdict was returned, Johnston said: ‘If indeed Mr Whyte is found not guilty of being in contravention of the Companies Act, it doesn’t exonerate him from his villainy towards Rangers Football Club.
‘Candidly, he should have been charged with murder — murder of an institution. Destruction of people’s passion. Destruction
of the spirit of hundreds of thousands of Rangers fans. That’s what he should have been charged with. Then it would have been a no-brainer.’
After the verdict, the Scottish FA said it would consider pursuing Whyte over an unpaid £200,000 fine in 2012 for bringing the game into disrepute.
At the time, Whyte was also banned for life from Scottish football but declared then that he ‘couldn’t care less’.
Scottish FA chief executive Stewart Regan said yesterday: ‘The money has never been recovered. That will be something we will take advice on and should the opportunity present itself then we would consider it.
‘Every person that comes forward has to be considered on their own merits. But as far as Craig Whyte is concerned, he won’t be coming back in to Scottish football.
‘The situation that unfolded five years ago was regrettable. I think it was a unique set of circumstances that were presented to everyone involved at the time and we dealt with it in the best way we could.
‘We considered the facts and issues, we took advice, and we came up with what in our view was the right steps to go forward. We had to deal with the situation at the time and we did that. There are no regrets.’ The Crown had alleged 46-year-old Whyte pretended to then-owner Sir David Murray that funds were ‘immediately available’ on an ‘unconditional basis’ to make all required payments for a controlling and majority stake in Rangers. Advocate Depute Alex Prentice QC told the court Whyte did not have authority over the funds used in the takeover and ‘induced’ the Murray Group to sell.
But defence QC Donald Findlay described the accused as ‘the fall guy’ in the case.
After two hours of deliberations, the jury found Whyte not guilty on both charges and Judge Lady Stacey told him: ‘You have been acquitted and are free to leave the dock.’
Whyte thanked the judge and jury before leaving the courtroom. He was jeered as he left the court and on the way to his car he told reporters: ‘I’m just delighted with the outcome.’
During the trial, the court was told Rangers was sold to Whyte for £1, but the deal came with obligations to pay an £18million bank debt, a £2.8m ‘small tax case’ bill, £1.7m for stadium repairs, £5m for players and £5m in working capital.
The trial heard that Whyte arranged a £24m loan from financial firm Ticketus against three years of future seasonticket sales before he took control of Rangers.
Findlay said his client had met the conditions of the sale by paying the debt and investing in the club. He blamed Murray’s advisers, saying they ‘let him down very badly’ in the deal and did not ask where the takeover money was coming from.
Summing up the defence case, Findlay said: ‘They were not interested in where the money came from and we know this absolutely categorically.’