Did Dave King Teach Craig Whyte His Tax Strategy? + Are There 2 Dave Kings?

It is funny how some things seem very simple, yet become very complicated. One such example is that of Dave King, or, with a tip of the hat to TH White, “the once and future Dave King”.

Other people, including Phil Mac Giolla Bhain and Andy Muirhead at Scotzine have written about the position of Mr King as regards the SFA “fit and proper person” test. For what it is worth I would not expect Mr King to have any problems from the SFA with being classed as “fit and proper”.

There is also more to be written about how his position would affect his chances of being appointed to the present PLC Board.

But for now I wanted to look at one of the issues which is fundamental to both of those matters – does Mr King actually have any criminal convictions from his dealings with the South African Revenue Service? You would have thought that was a simple question – either one has a conviction or one does not.

But the Scottish media, perhaps being “spun” by interested parties, have come up with a range of answers.

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Charlotte Fakes and the Data Protection Act – Part 1 – Is Charlotte’s Web Broken?

The Charlotte Fakes Twitter account has been closed and, at least for now, the flow of information from that source has stopped.

This has been a cause of much rejoicing amongst the supporters of Rangers (or at least the small number who frequent their popular message boards). Various fellows there have been suggesting that the police, and in one suggestion the Metropolitan Police, are knocking on Charlotte’s door.

One of the accusations is that Charlotte has broken the Data Protection Act and, as Jack Irvine said in his interview with Andy Muirhead of Scotzine (which can be read in full here):-

New Career Path? Buy a Football Club – Then Have a Warrant Granted For Your Arrest!

Regular readers will recall that Craig Whyte, the former owner of Rangers (or to be accurate the person believed to be the ultimate owner of the company which owns the company which owned 85% of the shares in the company which formerly owned the assets and business which make up Rangers Football Club) had a warrant for his arrest granted at Inverness Sheriff Court recently.

However, despite the numerous demands for him to be strung up for what he supposedly did to Rangers, and the various police investigations which are apparently ongoing, the warrant did not relate to that, but rather to his failure to come to court as a witness in a criminal trial.

He was able to resolve the matter, arranging to appear at court to surrender to the warrant, and then being granted bail. The Sheriff will deal with the imposition of any penalty for his failure to attend when the criminal case in question is concluded.

Daily Mail Wrongly Castigates “Human Rights” and “Travellers” in Article re Stolen Caravan

The good old Daily Mail never ceases to disappoint. Each day it shows that it is in fact a very clever spoof newspaper, seeking to poke fun at the prejudices of some of its readers. After all, the alternative, namely that the editorial line of the Mail is genuine and that it means what it says is too horrible to contemplate.

As well as the BBC being a target for Mail disapproval, readers might perceive that the paper also does not like those perceived to be “non-British”. I would never accuse the Mail of racism, so please do not take that implication from what I say. However I can see how a misguided soul could take that impression from some of its articles.

On Monday the Mail published a piece which is now under the headline:-

“Police won’t hand stolen caravan back to couple to protect human rights of the travellers living in it”.

The headline originally referred to “gypsies” and not travellers. At some point over the last day or so that has been changed. Sense prevailing perhaps?

Exclusive – Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill’s New Blueprint for Scottish Justice**

My sources close to Crown Office and the Justice Department have been able to locate for me the working draft of Mr MacAskill’s latest press release, designed to accompany the next stage of his proposals to “modernise” and “improve” Scottish criminal law.

After all, this follows a week where the Bill bringing to an end the need for corroboration in Scottish prosecutions has been published, despite the united opposition of the judiciary, the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland and where the future of the “not proven” verdict has again been placed under scrutiny, with the clear intention that it disappear too.

The draft below might never see the light of the day, and there are clearly a few parts for the Minister to tidy up. Maybe the Justice Secretary will decide that the latest proposals might be far enough to go.

Or maybe we will wake up soon to see the following in our morning papers…