The failed prosecutions against seven individuals involved with the takeover or administration of Rangers in 2011/12 will ultimately cost Scottish taxpayers at least £53m.
That sum includes compensation paid to those who were wrongly arrested, as well as payment to cover their legal fees.
The saga, which has dragged on for more than a decade, has proved highly embarrassing for Scotland’s prosecution service – as well as extremely expensive at a time public finances are already under pressure.
The Crown Office has described the total payouts as “regrettable” but insisted lessons had been learned as a result.
Why was an investigation launched?
The men who ultimately faced arrest were all either involved in the administration or takeover of Rangers in 2012.
The Crown Office asked Strathclyde Police in June 2012 to launch an investigation into the circumstances of Craig Whyte’s Ibrox takeover in 2011 and his subsequent financial management of the club. The case was then inherited by Police Scotland when the new national constabulary was founded in April 2013.
Officers were tasked with probing what they described as the “alleged fraudulent acquisition” of the football club. Officers spent 12 months investigating multiple allegations of fraud before launching a series of arrests at dawn in November 2014. Further arrests followed a year later.
Who faced prosecution?
Craig Whyte took control of Rangers from Sir David Murray in May 2011. The club went into administration in February the following year. He was arrested in 2015 by Police Scotland as part of a wider investigation into the takeover.
David Whitehouse and Paul Clark were appointed administrators when the company that ran the Ibrox club went into administration. The duo had been brought in to oversee the books as Rangers underwent a period of financial crisis. They left Ibrox in October 2012 and were arrested two years later.
Insolvency expert David Grier, who worked alongside Whitehouse and Clark at Rangers in 2012, was arrested in 2014.
Gary Withey, a lawyer who advised Craig Whyte during his takeover of Rangers, was arrested in 2014.
Businessman Charles Green became chief executive of Rangers in the summer of 2012 and stood down in April the following year. He was arrested in 2015.
Imran Ahmad, a finance expert, was appointed Rangers commercial director at the same time as Green. He had left by April 2013. He was arrested in 2015.
Who ordered the prosecutions?
Frank Mulholland was serving as Lord Advocate – Scotland’s top law officer – when in 2015 he sanctioned prosecutions related to the Rangers takeover. His term as Lord Advocate ended in 2016 and he is now a leading high court judge. He was awarded a CBE in 2017.
James Wolfe was appointed Lord Advocate in 2016 and would later be forced to apologise in parliament for the Crown Office’s handling of the prosecutions.
In February 2021, Mulholland issued a statement via his solicitor to hit out at “false and scandalous” attacks made on him by opposition MSPs. One Tory member alleged that Mulholland had “went out of his way to see to it that two innocent men were hounded by the state”.
Mulholland’s statement said “he has found it frustrating to have his professional reputation maligned, but has until now remained silent due to his judicial role.”
He supported calls for a full public inquiry into the prosecutions.
When were the prosecutions dropped?
All charges against Withey, Clark, Whitehouse, Grier, Ahmad and Green were dropped in 2016. Craig Whyte was the only one of the seven whose case proceeded to court. He was cleared following a seven-week trial in 2017.
Five of them would later sue the Crown Office and Police Scotland.
In 2019, the Court of Session paved the way for pay-outs to be made after it ruled the office of Lord Advocate does not have immunity from claims of malicious prosecution.
In August 2020, a lawyer representing the Lord Advocate admitted the prosecution against David Whitehouse and Paul Clark, beyond their initial court appearance, was “malicious” and conducted without “probable cause”
How much compensation was given?
It was announced by the Crown Office in February 2021 that Whitehouse and Clark were both awarded £10.5 million in damages, with an additional £3 million to pay legal fees. In a separate legal claim in 2020, both men reached a financial settlement out of court with Police Scotland over their wrongful arrest. The amount paid by police has not been disclosed.
Charles Green settled his legal claim in August 2021 against the Crown Office for £6.3 million plus legal costs.
David Grier lost his £8.7 million malicious prosecution claim against police and prosecutors. An appeal was later thrown out.
Imran Ahmad was awarded over £600,000 in damages last year for malicious prosecution.
How much will taxpayers pay in total?
In a written answer to MSP Murdo Fraser in November last year, the bill had reached £52.2m. The total is expected to edge closer to £53m when a £600,000 payout, and a bill for additional legal fees, is made to Imran Ahman.
Has anyone apologised?
James Wolfe, the then Lord Advocate, took the unprecedented step of making an apology in the Scottish Parliament in February 2021 for the botched prosecutions of Whitehouse and Clark. He said: “In this particular case there was a very serious failure in the system of prosecution.
“It did not live up to the standards I expect, which the public and this parliament are entitled to expect, and which the Crown Office expects of itself.”
In a statement to the Record, a Crown Office spokesman said: “We appreciate that these costs are particularly regrettable given the pressure on public finances. Throughout these cases we have sought to protect the public purse from avoidable costs. The Crown is committed to public scrutiny of these cases and more information will be made available in due course.
“Since the prosecutions which gave rise to these civil actions, the Crown has taken significant steps to safeguard against similar situations arising again. New arrangements for managing complex cases have been implemented and are now well established.”
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