Sir David Murray denies cheating while Rangers owner

Sir David Murray: Former owner claimed EBT scheme was legal.©SNS Group

Sir David Murray has insisted that Rangers are not guilty of any wrongdoing as the Scottish Premier League investigates possible rule breaches during his time at Ibrox.

The SPL has already stated that there is a prima facie case to answer over payments made to Rangers players between 2001 and 2010 that were not specified in SPL contracts.

Around £50m of wages for playing staff and directors at the club during that time were paid from offshore employee benefit trusts (EBTs), which avoided tax contributions to HM Revenue and Customs.

Before the asset sale and soon-to-be-confirmed liquidation of 'oldco' Rangers, the company was embroiled in a First Tier Tax Tribunal with HMRC over their use of EBTs, which has still to report back a result.

In his statement, the latest he has made distancing himself from the financial meltdown at the club, Sir David claimed that the scheme used to pay Rangers' players during his reign was "tax avoidance" and was legal, as opposed to "tax evasion", which is a crime.

Sir David has denied that the club cheated during the 11 years the trusts were used to pay player wages, while he also accused the SPL of acting improperly.

He said in a statement released by Press Association: "During my stewardship of Rangers no rules were breached or circumvented and I reject and resent any suggestion that anything was done which amounted to cheating.

"I cannot be anything other than angered at the suggestion Rangers should be stripped of titles or other competition victories."

The SPL said that if found to be in breach of the rules, a range of 18 possible sanctions could apply, with the retrospective stripping of league titles among the more severe options. Sir David suggested that the SPL was attempting to "retrospectively rewrite laws to incorporate items not previously covered."

Sir David's accusations come a day after a statement released by Rangers' supporters groups accused the SPL of mishandling the investigation and pursuing an agenda against the club. On Monday, the SPL declined to comment on the statement from the former Rangers owner.

Previously, the 60-year-old claimed that he had been "duped" by Craig Whyte, who he sold the club to for £1 last May. Mr Whyte struck a £25.3m deal with London firm Ticketus for future Ibrox season ticket sales, which he used to wipe out the club's £18m Lloyds Banking Group debt.

He claimed he had carried out due diligence on Mr Whyte, but he was not aware of the fact that the businessman had previously been banned from holding a directorship in the UK for seven years.

During his ownership of Rangers, Sir David also employed a similar deal with Ticketus for season ticket sales at Ibrox. Earlier this year, the financial accounts for Murray International Holdings revealed that the company had written off an £59m loan to Rangers following the sale to Mr Whyte.

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