23/02/2012 Newsnight Scotland

Champion, saying she did not want any distraction from her important

Tonight on Newsnight Scotland, in a development which could have

profound implications for the future of the club, the

administrators at Rangers are understood to believe that Great

White may not be a secured creditor, and that the controversial deal to

sell season tickets in advance could be unwound. We will be asking

whether the whole affair could be heading for a prolonged battle in

the courts. And, the black, black oil, would Scotland owning it make

the slightest bit of difference? Good evening. The former Rangers

chairman Alastair Johnston has already suggested Craig Whyte may

have forfeited his status as a preferred creditor at the club, and

that the money he is said to be owed should in fact be written off.

Tonight we have learned that the administrators are also querying

whether Craig Whyte is a secured creditor, in other words, whether

he has any claim over that -- over the assets. Our investigations

correspondent Mark Daly reports. The first two casualties of the

administration of one of Scotland's oldest institutions. This afternoon,

Rangers' chief operations officer and director of football were both

made redundant. Both had been hired by the man in the middle, owner

Craig Whyte, against whom Smith aimed a withering parting shot.

Just when things looked like they could not get any worse, they got

worse. Strathclyde Police confirmed it had received a dossier from the

administered, -- from the administrator, and would be

preparing a report for the procurer of the school to decide whether a

crime had occurred. The number of different organisations

investigating the club now numbers five. -- the Procurator Fiscal.

Chief among those, the administrator, and we understand

they have so far found nothing to back up the claim of Craig Whyte

that he injected �33 million of his own money into the football club.

In fact, the administrator has been unable to locate a single piece of

evidence that he put any of his own money into the club, other than the

nominal �1 he paid for its purchase. Last night, former Rangers chairman

Alastair Johnston claimed Craig Whyte may have gone back on the

promises he made in his purchase agreement, which could leave his

secured creditor status null and void. Additionally, the BBC

understands the administrators are pursuing a second Avenue, involving

financial transactions, which might also undermine Craig Whyte's

position, and release back into the club the assets upon which his

credit is secured. Mr Whyte went all the way to the Court of Session

to make sure his preferred choice of administrator was installed.

Indeed, the administrators have been involved with Mr Whyte since

before the takeover. But now it seems all bets are off, and the

season ticket matter could be next in line. It has emerged a London

finance firm, which bought at least three years' worth of future TVs

and ticket sales, apparently has no security over the assets of the

club. -- of future season-ticket sales. We can reveal that as far

back as last year, they were exploring how secure this

arrangement might have been. Mr Whyte says he has secured the

ticketing scheme personally. Behind the scenes, the administrators are

confident they can get the company into a voluntary arrangement,

meaning that the principle creditors would get a percentage of

what they Road, without the club going into liquidation. I am told

this is contingent on Craig Whyte no longer being involved at Ibrox.

The gravity of the situation at Ibrox did not escape First Minister

Alex Salmond at Parliament today. very much hope that a way forward

can be found which allows Rangers to meet its obligations to the

taxpayer, to continue in business and to save jobs. However, it

should be said that given the revelations of the last few days,

the task facing the administrator is a very, very difficult one.

there's more. BBC Scotland can reveal that the HMRC debt of around

�9 million, which kept the club into administration, will soon be

nudging �15 million. In a statement this week, Great White denied he

had gone back on his tax liabilities, adding... -- Craig

Whyte. The BBC has obtained evidence which suggests that

statement is not true. I have seen HMRC documents which indicate that

it took the more than �4 million which it froze last year from

Rangers finances in order to cover this, and used it to pay the

outstanding VAT which was due on the �24 million that Rangers

received from the London finance firm. That means that despite the

claims of Mr Whyte, the re-tax bill has nothing to do with the �9

million figure, and is still unsettled. We understand the

administrator is to withdraw the appeal against it, so it can be

added to the �9 million. And with the tax bill rising by more than �1

million a month, by the end of February, the full amount owed will

be nudging �50 million, which of course does not take into account

the potential �14 million -- �49 million big tax bill. Tonight,

Craig Whyte rejected the BBC's claims that the debts would climb

But with sections of the support turning against him, his battles

with the taxman, and a series of investigations into his running of

the club, is he really serious about taking his place in the Ibrox

directors' box ever again? Well, our business and economy editor

Douglas Fraser joins me now. Also with me is the journalist Tom

English, who writes for the Scotsman and the Scotland on Sunday.

This gets more and more complex, but what are the implications of

all of these questions about whether or not Craig Whyte is a

secured creditor? You have to go back to last May, when he took over

a bank loan. When the banks lane two many -- when the banks lend you

money, if you cannot pay, they get the property. That is a secured

creditor. That was nailed down in the terms of the bank loan. We were

told at the time that it was guaranteed by his own money, we now

know rather differently. But that status would give him the position

of being the first in line for any liquidation of assets, ahead of

everybody else, including the tax authorities. This was crucial at

the talks last week about possible liquidation, that Craig Whyte might

be able to take over the assets and set up a new company. A new company

could take on the assets, if they were liquidated by the

administrators, wipe out the debt and carry on as if the club had

hardly changed. But not if there is a problem with this status.

Somebody else could do it, presumably? If they're liquidated,

if the administrator is in a position to move them on, yes. But

there is this lock, because we are not clear if it is in fact secured

status for Craig Whyte. Also, we have got this idea with the company

from London, and whether that deal could be unwound. Yes, this was the

deal, �24 million in return for at least some of the season ticket

sales over the next three seasons. We were previously told it was four

seasons. What the company has said in the past few days is that it is

not a secured creditor, it owns these tickets. That is a rather

troubling concept, because these tickets have not been printed yet,

they do not exist. We do not know what matches will be played over

the next three seasons. And indeed, if you turn up with one of their

tickets at the turnstiles at Ibrox, do we know which company is going

to be running at the club at Ibrox, and will they recognise these

tickets? So, it is not clear that they do in fact have ownership of

these tickets. It may come as a rather unpleasant surprise to them

to see what is being said by the administrators. To my knowledge,

nobody has suggested the company has done anything wrong, these

deals are not uncommon. More often, what they would do would be, to

ease the cashflow for a football club, over the course of the year,

with season-ticket sales coming out at one particular time, but it is

normally just done over one year. It also sounds to me that this

could end up in court, which would make it more difficult to get the

club up and running again? There are at least two reasons to

question whether Craig Whyte is in fact a secured creditor. One of

them is that he has broken at least one, perhaps more of the conditions

of the sale from last May, which, according to one of the clauses in

the contract, automatically extinguishers his loan, so the �18

million gets wiped out if that is the case. If the administrators

agree with Alastair Johnston on that, clearly, Craig Whyte has a

very keen interest in challenging it. That's the worry, isn't it, Tom

English, if you're a fan, this could end up in a legal case, and I

don't know whether you could even put the club into liquidation, or

restart kick in some form. This is a farce worthy of Hollywood now.

Tonight, at last, there is a tiny bit of hope for the Rangers fans.

If the ticket issue can be unravelled, if Craig Whyte's role

in the club can be unravelled as well, then at least they would get

a little bit of hope for the future. Clearly, they what would have him

now. HMRC one would have him, HMRC might cut a deal, they might cut

Rangers' some slack with the big tax case, but only if Craig Whyte

is off the scene. What do you make Gordon Smith for went in there with

high hopes. He was very excited and the club he thought he was joining

turned out to be very different. He was mainly in charge of player

recruitment, transfer negotiations but he had the rug pulled from

under his feet. Presumably these two must only be the start. The

other question here is how exactly are the administrators going to

keep this club playing football matches on a week-by-week basis if

there is no money? All the pressure is on Haiti M R C putting on Craig

Whyte. My dealings with Craig Whyte would leave me to believe that

there is no way he will walk away quietly. He is not that type of

character. Briefly, Dacruz, there was the view... There was a

possibility be could get a pre- packed deal. That certainly is of

the table. This looks like it could get very protracted and could get

into the courts. Do you agree? This could drag on for a long time.

This is an epic saga. Thank you both.

Western governments proved in the lead-up to the financial crass but

you can spend money you don't have but can you save money you don't

have. Centre for Public Policy for Regions suggests that Alex

Salmond's plans for an all fund are flawed because there is no spare

billion in the Budget to say it. Nationalist disputes the figures

claiming there is a survey last for It is Scotland's oil - while not

quite. It would be if Scotland were independent and why the it will

continue to produce a steady flow of the black stuff it is

diminishing. As continued investment and sophisticated

extraction techniques and prices will go up as well as down but it

will never allow the titillation of tax receipts to rival Norway's all

funds which is a memorial to have Britain has used its North Sea wind

for. The issue came up at first Minister's Questions. If he is

prepared to be so slippery on this issue, how can anyone have any

faith on anything he says? She will find that back in the 1960s a UK

council decided to create another country, it was called the offshore

continental shelf and it was a device so the oil and gas industry

could be extracted from Scotland. We know at that time successive

governments were being told that an independent Scotland would be

richer than Switzerland. Politicians would be telling us we

would be Porter -- poorer than Bangladesh. Today's report Tangiers

the idea that an oil find could be found with just a billion pounds.

billion pounds could be put away every year. Can we afford it? On

the current numbers that the gunman and produces -- government produces,

it is difficult to see if �1 billion is available. It applies

that �1 million will come from a surplus. Yes, we have had in the

past a current surplus. If we add in capital spending we have had a

deficit but we have only had a surplus three out of five years and

it requires additional revenues to maintain any current surplus.

isn't all that predicated on the current budget which is a block

grant from London and passionless would argue that if you are

independent we would have a more dynamic economy and for quake?

would be incumbent upon any government where they think that

growth would come from. How they generate additional taxes. If �1

billion had been put away it as of 2015, we are currently working of

the expenditure levels and the current expenditure of revenues. If

we expect the surplus in the future we need to indicate how far that

will be generated, how quickly and then the question is is a fund the

best way of using that surplus? a Mr Salmon misleading the public?

His statement about clearly indicated that an oil fund would be

developed as and when fiscal conditions permitted, so I do not

think he is being misleading but I do think that if we are doing it

tomorrow, fiscal conditions would not be permitting �1 billion to be

put away. What do you say to nationalists who accuse you of

being pro-Labour? We are independent of all parties. All

parties have quoted us, or use our work when it suits. They can choose

to accuse Arthur of bias. We are independent of any party. -- accuse

us of bias. Perhaps the real point is not economic battle. Over 40

years, British governments put the oil windfall into a revenue account

and wrote cheques for current spending including mass

unemployment. No oil money has never been invested in either

infrastructure or in the future, for example in our pensions. Our

political strategists would point out the SNP is trying to present a

contrast between the short-term of London and their own careful

husbanding of a national resource. Posing the question, who put

Scotland first? There have been further

developments this evening in the Eric Joyce story. Ian Watson joins

me now. What is happening? There have been further developments. It

has been well reported but the allegations that Eric Joyce head-

butted a Conservative MP. I am also told that several Labour whips

tried to restrain Mr Joyce last night in the House of Commons bar.

One of them it was alleged was punched in the nose and there was

blood. This evening there are now reports there has been a further

incident involving Eric Joyce since he was taken into police custody.

He remains in custody this evening, yet has not been charged with any

offence. Speaking to Labour MPs this evening, some have been

expressing concern about Eric Joyce's health and behaviour. He

won by election to become an MP. Nine rolling out another by-

election in his Falkirk constituency. Time for a look at

tomorrow's front pages starting with the Scotsman. Rangers director

shown the door. A picture of Gordon-Smith on the front and on

the right, Scots MPs night in the cells after alleged head-butt on

Tory. Eric Joyce pictured on the front page of the Herald. Then its

main story, money-men cannot find white cash at Rangers. Tax debt �5

million more than thought. Daily Telegraph has a story about doctors