Prosecutors accused of ‘malicious’ case against Rangers pair
Administrators win £600k in legal fight that may cost taxpayer £21m
‘Nothing short of a disgrace’
RANGERS administrators have been handed £600,000 by a judge after prosecutors were accused of chasing a ‘malicious’ case against them.
David Whitehouse and Paul Clark, who worked for administrator Duff & Phelps, received the interim payment towards legal costs as they pursue claims for compensation totalling almost £21million.
They are suing Lord Advocate James Wolffe, QC, and former Police Scotland Chief Constable Phil Gormley for alleged wrongful detention, arrest and prosecution.
Both men had increased the sums they are suing for by a combined £5million after they were cleared of any wrongdoing, a virtual hearing at the Court of Session was told yesterday.
Their lawyers described the case against them as a ‘disgrace’ and said both men were fortunate to have been able to afford to challenge it.
Mr Clark’s lawyer, Iain Ferguson, QC, said: ‘It is nothing short of a disgrace that the Government has chosen to act in this fashion towards two private citizens. It is only through the determination of Mr Clark and Mr
Whitehouse to clear their names that we have got to this point. The bottom line here is that less wealthy people could never have got to this point.’
Lord Tyre ordered an interim expenses payment of £350,000 to Mr Whitehouse, from Cheshire, and £250,000 to Mr Clark, from Surrey.
The two men were the subject of an abortive attempt to prosecute them in the High Court after the takeover of the Ibrox club by businessman Craig Whyte and Rangers’s later administration and liquidation.
Several charges were dropped by the Crown and the remainder were dismissed by judge Lord Bannatyne.
Mr Whitehouse and Mr Clark were appointed joint administrators in February 2012 and informed police the acquisition of Rangers by Mr Whyte through a company, Wavetower, may have involved illegal financial assistance in 2011.
But they were detained by police in dawn raids at their homes in 2014 on suspicion of being involved in a ‘fraudulent scheme and attempt to pervert the course of justice’.
The pair maintain that at no point was there any justification for their detention or prosecution.
Yesterday, the Lord Advocate’s lawyer, Gerry Moynihan, QC, told Lord Tyre the prosecution beyond the men’s initial court appearance was ‘malicious’ and conducted without ‘probable cause’.
The Lord Advocate had previously denied any wrongdoing.
The court heard the two administrators’ legal teams have been supplied with documents which show senior Crown Office lawyers speaking about the ‘need to nail the Duff & Phelps people’.
Mr Ferguson told the court he knows meetings were chaired by then Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, QC, now a judge, in which ‘strategic’ decisions were taken about the case.
But he said no minutes of these meetings appeared to exist, meaning he was unable to discover what was discussed.
Mr Whitehouse’s lawyer,
Roddy Dunlop, QC, said his client had spent £1.8million on lawyers’ fees. Mr Clark’s lawyer said his client spent £1,030,000.
Mr Whitehouse has brought a claim for £10.5million. Mr Clark is suing for £10.3million.
Mr Moynihan told the court the Crown was now admitting liability for wrongdoing in parts of the prosecution. He said his clients accepted the two men’s rights under article five, relating to the right to liberty and security, of the European Convention had been violated during the prosecution.
But he said prosecutors continue to deny there was an ‘ulterior motive’ regarding some aspects of the prosecution.
Lord Tyre continued the matter to a further procedural hearing next month.
A full hearing is scheduled to take place in January 2021.