Rangers administrators were not maliciously prosecuted and should never have been awarded £21million of taxpayers’ cash according to a high court judge in an explosive leaked email.
The astonishing memo written by Lord Mulholland and obtained by the Sunday Mail reveals he was left “incredulous” at the Crown Office’s decision to admit wrongdoing in one of Scotland’s biggest ever legal scandals.
The total cost to the public purse as a result of former Lord Advocate James Wolffe settling the case out of court in August 2020 and agreeing to eye-watering compensation payouts is now over £50million.
And we can reveal that weeks after the decision Mulholland – who led the Crown Office at the time of the criminal prosecutions before going on to be appointed one of Scotland’s most senior judges – eviscerated Wolffe over his decision in an email.
View 5 ImagesLord Mulholland strongly criticised Crown Office decision.(Image: PA)
After laying out the evidence against a number of businessmen involved in the Rangers administration he concludes: “The evidence in this case points to fraudulent behaviour on the part of all accused involving many millions of pounds…I have underlined the word ‘all’ for emphasis.
“This is why I expressed surprise (now incredulity) at the decision to settle the case on the basis of a malicious prosecution and all the reputational damage that flows from such a decision.”
The revelation that one of Scotland’s most respected legal minds so thoroughly disagreed with Wolffe’s decision will send shockwaves through government and Crown Office.
A public inquiry into the debacle was promised over five years ago but is yet to materialise and opposition politicians have accused the Scottish Government of a “cover up”.
Administrators David Whitehouse and Paul Clark, of the firm Duff and Phelps, were appointed in 2012 when Rangers collapsed after being bought from Sir David Murray by Craig Whyte.
They were arrested in 2014 along with several other businessmen involved in the club – but all charges were later dropped.
View 5 ImagesFormer Rangers administrators Paul Clark and David Whitehouse have already secured £21 million in damages from prosecutors(Image: Tony Nicoletti)
Wolffe settled a malicious prosecution case brought by Whitehouse and Clark and also admitted former Rangers chief executive Charles Green and former director Imran Ahmad should never have been prosecuted, with Green receiving more than £6million in compensation plus legal costs.
View 5 ImagesFormer Rangers chief executive Charles Green outside Glasgow Sheriff Court in 2015(Image: PA)
Wolffe issued an “unreserved apology” and said: “In this particular case there was a very serious failure in the system of prosecution.
“What happened in this particular case should not have happened, I tender my apology to the parliament and the public that it did happen, and for the consequent cost to the public purse.”
But in his furious email Mulholland defends to the hilt the decision to seek prosecutions against both Whitehouse and Clarke, and also businessmen David Grier, Ahmad and Green.
He writes: “There was a clear sufficiency of evidence. It is not finely balanced, there was a clear sufficiency.
“I well recognise that the evidence was not yet tested and that legal challenges to the admissibility of the evidence had not yet materialised.
“However, decisions to indict are taken on the available evidence at the time, which I have summarised above.
“I was not surprised, given this evidence, that the prosecution team, Crown Counsel and the indictors all took the view that there was sufficient evidence to indict the persons named in the indictment.”
View 5 ImagesRangers collapsed into administration in 2012(Image: Jeff Holmes/PA Wire)
He added: “I did nothing wrong, nor did I see any wrongful (or negligent) behaviour amongst the prosecution team. As you will appreciate, I would not have countenanced such behaviour and I would have arrested such behaviour had it come to my attention.”
Mulholland even appears to suggest he could take the unprecedented step of launching legal action himself over Wolffe’s decision to apologise, adding: “I note that a public statement and apology is to be made in due course.
“I will be paying close attention to them and I reserve the right to take any action I consider appropriate.”
Mulholland laid out in detail volumes of evidence he believes justified the prosecution and why Wolffe was completely wrong to settle the case.
It includes details of a notebook found in the offices of law firm Collyer Bristow which contained notes which Mulholland states set out a “fraudulent scheme”.
Entries from May 2011 as Rangers was collapsing state: “Buy club….Press – powerful weapon…force club into administration….Don’t want money to move…Mr Lennon to be handed league on a plate.”
He also gives details of an email from within Duff and Phelps which stated: “We are not broadcasting involvement to anyone in case guy who has bought it, our client, makes a mess of the whole thing. We don’t want to be associated too heavily.
“The guy who bought hasn’t got a f****** clue – no plan, no strategy, did very little DD (due diligence) – it is honestly baffling.
“He only went ahead and did it as hasn’t risked any of his own cash – paid £1 for shares and funded repayment of bank debt by forward selling three years’ worth of season tickets revenue. So everyone thinks he is a saviour but in fact it is all a big front and club has as much debt as it had before, just to someone else.”
Responding to Mulholland’s claims David Whitehouse said: “The attempt by Mulholland to obfuscate responsibility for his behaviour shouldn’t surprise anyone, desperate people say desperate things. It is equally unsurprising that his desperate requests were ignored by those in charge at the time.
“What is of greatest importance is that the long awaited promised public inquiry takes place without further delay, as this is the forum which will fully expose all the facts, many of which are well known to both me and Mulholland. This is the forum which will lay bare the scandalous behaviour of the Crown Office and particularly Frank Mulholland.”
David Grier, who had charges against him dropped but has not won a malicious prosecution case, said: “To uncover who knew what and why decisions were made, allowing rules and guidelines to be broken it might take a Public Enquiry to get close to having answers which allow those responsible to be held to account. I am not sure many in the Crown Office associated with this case would welcome that.”
Scottish Tory MSP Stephen Kerr said: “This has been abysmally mishandled by the SNP and, because of their habitual secrecy, the public may never know the truth.”
Lord Mulholland and James Wolffe were contacted for comment.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “Following a detailed review of the case, the Lord Advocate accepted that there had been significant departures from the normal practices designed to ensure prosecutions are brought on a proper basis.
“The Crown supports a process of inquiry into what happened.”
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