FORMER Rangers director Paul Murray has called for the role of administrators Duff and Phelps to be investigated following claims over one of their partner’s involvement in Craig Whyte’s takeover.
A BBC documentary team alleged that David Grier, whose advisory role was already widely known, was aware of a potential deal between Whyte and Ticketus ahead of the takeover in May last year.
Duff and Phelps have confirmed this but they stressed that Grier did not know how much money Whyte intended to borrow against future season ticket sales and was unaware that the capital, initially £24.4 million, would be used to pay off the club’s bank debt and thus complete the £1 buyout.
The London-based firm have threatened legal action against the BBC and denied any conflict of interest, but Murray claims the seriousness of the allegations should prompt a probe.
“I really feel this matter has to be investigated as a matter of urgency by the regulatory bodies,” Murray said.
“The problem from the club’s point of view is we don’t have a lot of time to do that.
“For Rangers fans to have confidence over the process over the last few months, that needs to be done immediately.”
Duff and Phelps were appointed at the Court of Session on February 14 after creditors Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs dropped their initial objection to Whyte selecting his preferred administrators.
Murray, whose Blue Knights lost out to a rival consortium led by Charles Green in a bid for exclusive bidder status earlier this month, said: “You have to ask why were Duff and Phelps appointed in the first place?
“This is a hugely complicated and high-profile administration.
“I’m a qualified chartered accountant and I find some of the stuff quite difficult to get my head round. I’m also a former director so I’ve got quite a lot of inside knowledge of the situation.
“I actually wonder why one of the big four accountancy firms wasn’t appointed to conduct this.
“Secondly, why was Craig Whyte so desperate to get Duff and Phelps appointed as administrators?
“A number of people within Rangers at a very senior level said they had only seen Craig Whyte panic on one occasion and that was when he thought HMRC were going to appoint someone different from Duff and Phelps.
“Duff and Phelps have to answer definitively what is David Grier’s involvement in all of this.”
Grier said: “I categorically deny that at the time of the Craig Whyte takeover of Rangers, I had any knowledge that funds from Ticketus were used to acquire the club.”