Grier denies conflict of interest over Rangers

Reporter

Thursday 24 May 2012

A SENIOR partner with Rangers administrators Duff & Phelps last night denied he faced a serious conflict of interest after it was claimed he had worked on the deal to buy the club with money raised from selling season ticket rights to Ticketus.

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Jody Harrison

Insolvency expert David Grier rebutted allegations in a BBC documentary screened last night that he knew of the deal in April 2011 and had helped disgraced owner Craig Whyte set it up to buy the club.

Whyte completed the takeover of Rangers on May 6, 2011, but was widely criticised after it was revealed he had used Ticketus to pay for the takeover of the club by selling off most of the next three years' worth of season tickets. Emails featured in Rangers: The Men Who Sold the Jerseys from Whyte's lawyer to Mr Grier purportedly outlined how the "Ticketus agreements will become unconditional" once control was gained over the club.Speaking from New York, Mr Grier told The Herald: "There is no conflict of interest – none at all. My first involvement with Ticketus was in May during the settlement of the Murray Group's position with regards to Rangers."Ticketus was designated as a funding source which was already being used by the Murray Group, and its use as a way of raising capital was discussed. I had no knowledge that it was going to be used as a source to fund the acquisition of the club."Mr Grier said that the administrators' decision to launch legal action to stop Ticketus from claiming its rights to revenue from season tickets in March proved that he had no prior involvement with the company. He said: "If that was the case, why would we have taken Ticketus to court? It would have been the easiest thing in the world for their lawyer to have it stopped because I had worked with them to secure season ticket rights."The Ticketus deal, if it stands, would make Rangers a much less attractive proposition to any potential buyer, since more than half of the club's income stream for the next three years will have dried up. Whyte called in administrators on February 14 after running up debts to HMRC of up to £15 million. His choice of administrators, Duff & Phelps, were appointed with court approval. Mr Grier was pictured at Whyte's side in the days leading up to the takeover last year, and has gone on the record in the past to say he was involved in smoothing the deal through.But he revealed last night that concerns had been raised over some of the legal documents prepared by Whyte's team, saying that they looked like they had been "written by a lawyer on his way home on the tube on a Friday night".He said he had tried to explain his position to the BBC, but that "minds had already been made up".Paul Clark, joint administrator, also spoke out to defend his role at rangers. He said: "The allegations made in the programme against Duff & Phelps are untrue, a distortion of the facts and highly defamatory. "Discussions are already underway with our solicitors with a view to bringing legal proceedings against the BBC."We made a number of offers to assist the BBC in order they would not make the fundamental errors broadcast this evening and for some inexplicable reason the reporter Mark Daly declined these."We had also hoped to give interviews stating our case on camera but received strong legal advice against this course of action, bearing in mind the legal proceedings Duff & Phelps have raised against Collyer Bristow. The BBC were informed in writing from our solicitors."We did, however, provide the BBC with lengthy written statements stating our position and we are publishing these on the Rangers website."He added the BBC journalist involved in the investigation "failed miserably to understand the difference between working capital arrangements for the club and acquisition funding".

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Grier denies conflict of interest over Rangers

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