Rangers chairman Dave King is to face court-ordered contempt proceedings over a failure to make a judge-ordered £11 million bid for most of the club's shares.
It has been confirmed that Mr King will face a contempt of court hearing at the Court of Session on Friday having failed to comply with a court order to make an offer to Rangers shareholders in March.
The Rangers chief has already been told that he is in breach of takeover rules by failing to make the bid.
A judiciary source confirmed the hearing was by order of the court with Lord Bannatyne expected to preside.
In December Lord Bannatyne ruled in favour of the Takeover Panel that Mr King acted in concert with other shareholders when he bought a controlling stake in 2015 ousting a board of directors said to be allied to Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley.
Mr King argued that a judge went "too far" in ordering him to make a mandatory offer at a price of 20p a share.
Rangers International Football Club plc said it understood that the funds for the offer are there and that Mr King's South African-based Laird Investments (Proprietary) Limited was seeking South African government approval to allow the money for the offer to be transferred to the UK.
Lord Carloway at the Court of Session dismissed an appeal in March forcing a bid for 70 per cent of the shares to be made after agreeing that Mr King and others acted together to force their way into the Ibrox boardroom three years ago.
It came after the Takeover Panel originally decided that a formal takeover should have been triggered after the Three Bears group led by Mr King secured more than 30 per cent of the voting rights in Rangers.
Mr King's Laird firm had said in the March 29 announcement that the bid would be funded "using the receipt of dividends" amounting to £13,074,842.90 which was "to be declared on April 4".
Mr King had gone through a lengthy battle through through the courts to stave off pressure to buy the shares fearing the heavy financial toll it would place on him.
During an October hearing, Mr King's advocate Lord Davidson of Glen Clova QC argued that the Rangers chief "is penniless" adding: "Any order wouldn't secure compliance. It won't. It is pointless."
Under Takeover Code rules, a written offer to shareholders had to be made within 28 days of Laird making the bid announcement on March 29 - but so far it has not been forthcoming.
Within a statement published earlier this month the panel said there was an "intention to initiate contempt proceedings were Mr King to fail to procure the publication of an offer in accordance with the code within the time stipulated".
Papers relating to the contempt proceedings were said to have been served on Mr King in South Africa on June 8.
Mr King had stated previously that the delay was a result of the Takeover Panel requiring funds of around £11m to be held in a UK account rather than South Africa, where he is resident.
But the Takeover Panel suggested there was a lack of clarity over his attempts to move the funds.
And Mr King accused the panel of "bullying" adding that he required exchange control to move the funds to London.
The King-led takeover group – which included Park's Motor Group founder Douglas Park, Rangers Supporters Trust and Rangers First member George Taylor and Rangers fan George Letham – had always denied that they had acted 'in concert' to purchase shares in Rangers on December 31 2014 and January 2, 2015.
But the Takeover Appeal Board (TAB) last year said that " the case for concluding that... Mr Letham and Mr King, at least, were acting in concert in purchasing the relevant shares becomes overwhelming".
Lord Carloway on March 1 announced that a fresh appeal would be refused.
Lord Bannatyne in a previous hearing said that Mr King's argument that he did not have the funds to make the offer was "irrelevant".
It's not the first time Dave King has faced contempt of court proceedings.
Two years ago he was cleared of committing a contempt of court in a legal row with Mike Ashley's Sports Direct.
Mike Ashley's firm had already failed in an attempt to have Mr King jailed for allegedly breaching a gagging order relating to the club's retail deal.
At the High Court in London, Mr Justice Peter Smith also threw out the contempt of court charge.
In dismissing the contempt of court charge, Mr Justice Smith said the case should never have been brought and was an abuse of process.
The judge said the "whole proceedings from first to last were designed to intimidate rather than to seek proper sanctions for an alleged breach".
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