FORMER Rangers chief executive Charles Green and finance chief Imran Ahmad could still face charges in connection with the Craig Whyte takeover and the later Sevco purchase of club assets, it has emerged.

Former club owner Craig Whyte, who was thought to have been the last man standing in the long-running case, was cleared of all charges in connection with his takeover six years ago.

But Crown Office sources have confirmed matters regarding Mr Green and Mr Ahmad remain under consideration and "enquiries are continuing", despite the events of Tuesday at the High Court.

The Herald:

It comes as police confirmed that the Dave King was not being investigated after it was claimed the Rangers chairman had paid around £20,000 for private mails and other documents allegedly "hacked" from Craig Whyte.

It was revealed during Mr Whyte's fraud trial that the South Africa-based businessman had acquired the so-called Charlotte Fakes material from a third party.

The original 15 charges in the Rangers case had covered fraud and conspiracy surrounding Mr Whyte's purchase of Rangers from Sir David Murray and the buying of the club's liquidated assets for £5.5 million by the Sevco consortium four months after the business fell into administration in Feburary, 2012.

In June, last year, it emerged that there were to be no further proceedings against David Whitehouse, David Grier and Paul Clark, who worked for Rangers administrators Duff and Phelps and former club secretary Gary Withey, who worked for Whyte's London law firm, Collyer Bristow and advised Mr Whyte during his takeover.

It was confirmed that allegations against Green, 64, and Mr Ahmad, 47, had been dropped.

The Herald:

But the High Court heard that Crown counsel were considering the position in relation to Mr Green and Mr Ahmad.

The time limit on fresh charges under 65(1)(b) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 expired in September, last year, and legal experts say they cannot now be indicted on the same offences.

But a Crown Office spokesman said while there are no live proceedings, "investigations are continuing" in relation to Mr Green and Mr Ahmad "and there is no further comment we could make".

Criminal defence lawyer Ian Moir said it would be very difficult to bring brand new charges arising from the two buyouts because of the time bar.

The Herald:

"It is hard to see how they are going to be able to come up with something sufficiently different that would be classed as new charges, without there being an objection, about them being the same allegations but just called something different. I can't see how they can get round this."

Among the dropped charges was an allegation that Green appropriated for his own use and purposes the sum of £5.5 million which he had obtained by fraud and that he purchased the "business and assets of the club through its corporate entity Sevco Scotland Limited with money provided by investors to Sevco 5088 Limited without their knowledge and agreement."

Also dropped were allegations of fraud and a conspiracy to commit serious organised crime over the Sevco purchase of the club's assets for a sum below its true market value depriving the creditors of rightful sums due to them.

Mr Whitehouse and Mr Clark had faced a number of dropped allegations including conspiring with Mr Whyte, Mr Green and Mr Ahmad to defraud the club's creditors of funds and assets.

The Herald:

It was also alleged in that dropped charge that the pair allowed Mr Whyte, Mr Green and Mr Ahmad to acquire the club at "significantly below the true market value".

The dropped charge claimed Mr Ahmad paid Mr Clark and Mr Whitehouse an exclusivity fee of £200,000 as the joint administrators of oldco Rangers.

It was Whyte's lawyer Donald Findlay QC who made the claim about the Charlotte Fakes material during legal talks as he questioned prosecution evidence saying: "An individual known to the Crown hacked into the computer of Mr Whyte and stole material. It was then used, putting it broadly, for potential blackmail.

“This material was recovered in some way from the thief because of a payment of a significant amount by Mr King.”

In October, 2014, a man was accused of leaking secret material surrounding Rangers was subject of a report to the Fiscal.

The Herald:

The man faced an extortion charge over claims private details about the club and ex-owner Craig Whyte were revealed on Twitter account Charlotte Fakes.

“The Procurator Fiscal has received a report concerning a 46-year-old man in connection with alleged incidents between March 2013 and July 2014," said a Crown Office spokesman.

“The report remains under consideration."

The man reportedly told Mr King he had Mr Whyte's permission to release the data.

A Police Scotland source confirmed: "There is no investigation involving Dave King."

A Rangers spokesman said that Mr King would not be commenting on the court claim and added that to be correct, these emails were neither stolen nor hacked".