Rangers boss who was suing for £2m now wants...£60m
FORMER Rangers director Imran Ahmad wants £60million compensation from prosecutors because he suffered ‘career ending’ losses over a doomed fraud probe, a court heard.
The Court of Session yesterday heard how Mr Ahmad had previously sought £2million from the Lord Advocate after he was one of several men prosecuted over the takeover of the club by Craig Whyte in 2012.
However, nobody was convicted of any wrongdoing.
Scottish prosecutors have paid out tens of millions of pounds to other people involved in the botched investigation and are facing a number of other claims.
Advocate Ewan Campbell told judge Lord Harrower yesterday a financial expert has assessed Mr Ahmad lost £57million of income after he was taken to court.
Asked by Lord Harrower what has caused the increase in the sum being sued for, Mr Campbell said: ‘The sum sued for when the proceedings were lodged was £2million. Since then there has been a lot of work done in this matter...
‘Over the past few months, the expert report of Stuart Andrews has been prepared and what that does is look at career losses in respect of Mr Ahmad – that is what we are dealing with in this case – it is the loss of a career and it was one which was progressing well and was well remunerated and it was anticipated to be well remunerated in the future.
‘The figure of £60million arises and has as its basis the expert opinion of Mr Stuart Andrews who estimates the losses of in excess of £57million and there will be issues of interest.’
Police and prosecutors believed there was evidence which showed fraud was committed during Mr Whyte’s takeover. However, everybody who was prosecuted during the investigation were acquitted and cleared of any wrongdoing.
Last year the club’s former chairman Charles Green received a £6.3million settlement for being wrongfully prosecuted.
Prosecutors have also paid damages in civil cases brought by businessmen David Whitehouse and Paul Clark who were also probed during the investigation. They both received £10.3million and their legal bills, thought to be £3million each, were also paid.
The Lord Advocate’s lawyer Gerry Moynihan, QC, told Lord Harrower his client needed more time to assess Mr Andrews’s report. A procedural hearing will be held on September 14.
‘It is the loss of a career’