feb 28, 2013 - LNS Commission issues its findings. Oldco Rangers handed a fine of £250,000 following an investigation into undisclosed payments to players (meaning terms of the 5 way agreement and undertaking letter adhered to in that no action taken against Newco that caused actionable harm

Description:

Burden of proof on the SPL to prove on balance material factors which might affect sanction, such as whether a particular breach had given Rangers FC a significant competitive advantage. It had an interest in ensuring this didn't happen under the terms of the 5 Way Agreement as they could not be enforced.

No evidence was led (by SPL) on whether the failure to register the contracts gave rangers a competitive advantage. Conclusion unsurprisingly therefore was that they were unable to conclude it did.

Material misunderstanding of fact in that the Wee Tax Case DOS was entirely omitted as the commission assumed it was the same - not corrected by participants who knew it wasn't. Also no mention of the five cases where Rangers had already admitted guilt.

Mistakenly works on assumption the EBT use was legal on FTT grounds (subsequently overturned) meaning they were never open to other clubs to use without breach of tax laws.

SPL effectively took Bryson's 'imperfectly registered but eligible' approach as binding despite being an entirely new interpretation. The enquiry accepted there were cases the defect was so fundamental the registration should be invalid but it looked at this case through a prism (incorrectly) of the EBT use being legal

From the date range that the Lord Nimmo Smith Commission was directed to cover beginning 23 November 2000 it can safely be assumed that the De Boer side letters nor HMRC reference to it were provided to the SPL by Duff and Phelps, who clearly had knowledge of the case from their Points of Claim in March 2012.

Had the two HMRC letters of Feb and May 2011 been provided, the terms of reference of the LNS Commission would have to reflect those EBTS that had already been deemed unlawful by the Aberdeen Asset Management FTT in late 2010.

The start date of the eventual LNS Commission would also have to have been 30th August 2000 as that was first use of an EBT with side letter by RFC. Significantly correspondence with SFA of 26 April 2016 shows that the 20th May letter should have been provided by Rangers to the SFA on receipt in May and it is unclear from SFA reply whether or not and when the SFA had this letter.

The significance of the wee tax case letters of February and May 2011 (the latter which the SFA should have had in their possession under UEFA FFP rules after its arrival in May 2011) with the term “fraudulent “included, is unlikely to have been lost on the SFA in damage limitation terms , so it is not surprising that any reference to information in the wee tax case documentation is noticeable by its absence from scrutiny when the Terms of Reference for the Craig Whyte JPDT were first discussed with Lord Nimmo smith on 17th February 2012..

In both the matter of the UEFA Licence in 2011 and LNS Commissioning in 2012 the 20th May 2011 HMRC letter’s non-disclosure at the time it was required under UEFA FFP and requested in March 2012 by SPL lawyers was crucial in terms of influencing major decisions made by Lord Nimmo Smith one justification for which was in para 108 of his Decision where he said:

“While there is no question of dishonesty, individual or corporate we nevertheless take the view that the nondisclosure must be regarded as deliberate."

There is no question that non disclosure was deliberate as Lord Nimmo Smith decided but those HMRC letters suggest that there was dishonesty involved, possibly fraud, and the non disclosure of the 20th May 2011 letter in 2011 and 2012 ( the implications of which the SFA (not surprisingly) have refused to revisit in September 2017 in response to an SPFL request) continue to affect the integrity of the governance of Scottish Football and remain a stigma on our game.

Added to timeline:

Date:

Images: