Rangers director Dave King lodges £20m creditors claim against club

Rangers director Dave King has lodged a creditor's claim for £20m with the crisis-hit club.

The South Africa-based businessman also questioned the viability of the company voluntary arrangement (CVA) proposals funded by a £8.5m loan from Charles Green’s consortium.

In a statement released on Thursday, Mr King said he felt the Sevco group’s plan for the club did not contain any real investment that would not be dependent on repayment.

This comes after current owner Craig Whyte used a £25.3m deal for future season ticket sales with London firm Ticketus to fund his May 2011 takeover and pay off the club’s £18m debt to Lloyds Banking Group.

Mr King said: "It is clear from the CVA proposal that Mr Green intends to repeat Mr Whyte’s strategy of using season ticket sales to fund the club. This would put fans back in the position of funding the club without owning it."

The chairman of investment firm Micro Mega Holdings claimed he invested £20m in Rangers in 2000 when Sir David Murray owned the club. He is currently being pursued by the South African Revenue Service (Sars) for 2.7bn rand (around £227m) dating back to 1991.

Mr King stated that his claim as a creditor, which was listed as "to be confirmed" in a recent report by Duff and Phelps, was for the "full amount of my investment".

He added it was based on the "deliberate non-disclosure by Sir David Murray of transactions that he had committed to on behalf of the club that were both risky and to the sole advantage of the Murray Group."

Mr King has previously stated he would pursue the former Rangers owner for £20m over the use of offshore employee benefit trusts (EBTs) to pay players and staff at Rangers from 2001 to 2010, which is the basis of the 'big' tax case that has left the club facing a potential tax bill of up to £75m.

Mr King said he is against the CVA proposals and questioned Mr Green’s claim that Mr Whyte agreed to sell his shares in Rangers to him for £1 based on the proposed route out of administration being successful.

Shares

He said: "[It] is unlikely in the extreme that he [Mr Whyte] would sell 'his' shares to Mr Green for a nominal sum (even if he hadn’t committed them to me) unless he was obtaining some benefit or retaining some control behind the scenes. Duff & Phelps non-communicative approach to stakeholders causes me further concern in that regard."

Mr King called on all fans who are creditors to oppose the CVA because of a lack of transparency surrounding the proposals.

He said: "I am opposing the CVA and urge all loyal fans to do the same. We don’t want to be back in a similar situation next season. I also believe that all true Rangers fans should not buy any season tickets until full and frank disclosure has been provided by Duff & Phelps, Mr Green, and Mr Whyte, as to what is truly going on behind the scenes."

On Thursday, Mr Whyte told Press Association Sport that he is "100% behind the CVA".

He claimed that it was the best way forward for the club. Mr Whyte added: "My shares will form part of the consortium's shareholding and after that I will focus on other activities. It has certainly been an eventful year but I did what needed to be done, unpopular as it was. There was no alternative. It had to be done."

Disputed claim

Joint administrator Paul Clark stated that Duff and Phelps have not accepted the claim raised by Mr King for £20m and challenged him to provide evidence.

He said: "Mr King refers to a claim against the club. We have received a letter of claim from Mr King's solicitors which contains a number of broad and unsupported allegations concerning matters which took place some ten years ago. The claims raised are neither accepted by the club nor have they been adjudicated by a court.

"We have written to his solicitors to ask them to provide evidence to support the claim, as all creditors are required to do. As a result, Mr King's suggestion that his representations have been ignored is entirely unfounded. If Mr King feels he has a claim against Mr Whyte or Mr Murray, then that is a matter for him and not a concern of the administrators."

Mr Clark insisted the CVA proposal is "completely transparent" and no concerns have been raised about it by "significant stakeholders and creditors".

He said: "I find Mr King’s remarks disappointing and misleading. As he should know more than most, all shareholders, as well as creditors, have received access to the CVA proposals and all relevant information has been made public on the Rangers website.

"Mr King should also know, that immediately after the conclusion of next week’s creditors meeting, a shareholders meeting will be convened. Mr Green, as the new legal owner of Mr Whyte’s shares, will vote in favour of the approval of the CVA should that be the outcome of the creditors meeting."

Mr Green also responded to the allegations from Mr King. He said it is "absurd to suggest I have not been communicating with fans." He added: "Mr King’s statement is breathtaking in its arrogance and is destructive to the interests of the club.

"People such as Mr King, who as I understand was not in a position to make a bid for the club, need to accept the realities of the situation and move on rather than continue to snipe from the sidelines."

Video features report of story from STV News late bulletin.

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