The Legality of Craig Whyte Recording David Grier – Me at Scotzine

I have penned typed a few thoughts on the legality of Mr Whyte’s taping of his lengthy chat in the club with Mr Grier.

Andy Muirhead at Scotzine.com has been kind enough to post it.

The short version?

Was it illegal for Mr Whyte to record his chat? No.

Could Mr Grier act to stop Mr Whyte selling the recording? Probably.

Is the recording admissible in court proceedings? If the court considers it is relevant and does not sufficiently offend against public policy considerations, then yes.

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Mark Daly Reveals Rangers’ “Smoking Gun” – Craig Whyte Taped David Grier of Duff & Phelps

Mark Daly of BBC Scotland has produced another chapter in his revelations regarding the events surrounding the administration of Rangers Football Club PLC. Following his two previous programmes, and his Scottish BAFTA nomination, he was on Reporting Scotland tonight.

The details can be read on the BBC website here.

The story tonight was based upon recordings made by Craig Whyte in a meeting with David Grier of Duff & Phelps. If Mr Whyte has been regularly taping meetings and calls in this process, one wonders if there might be people, in addition to Mr Grier, who are rather worried tonight.

Mr Daly’s previous programme in May prompted the issue of a statement by Duff & Phelps. The article, which was on the official Rangers website here – http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/football-news/article/2786614 – is no longer there.

However, I have a copy of it and the relevant extracts are below. You can read the full statement, and my comments on it here – https://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/some-questions-for-david-grier-and-the-administrators-of-rangers/

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David Grier, who was the engagement partner at MCR, said: “I categorically deny that at the time of the Craig Whyte takeover of Rangers, I had any knowledge that funds from Ticketus were being used to acquire the Club. This accusation is wrong, highly defamatory and betrays a lack of understanding of the facts.

Whatever Happened to Duff & Phelps and its Conflict of Interest Investigation?

On 22^nd June Lord Hodge dealt with a hearing into the administration process of Rangers Football Club PLC (as it then was).

The BBC reported the outcome as follows:-

The issue over any possible conflict of interest was raised by Lord Hodge at a hearing about the administration process on Friday. The judge said he took no view about what the BBC had said, but wanted to know whether Duff and Phelps had obtained and acted on legal advice on the question of conflict of interest. Lord Hodge said he had done nothing until now because he did not want to hinder the process of Rangers seeking a creditors voluntary agreement (CVA).

But, he told the accountants’ lawyers: “There is considerable public interest in this jurisdiction in relation to the administration.”

Lord Hodge added: “I do not want the administration to come to an end without having received that report.”

The report demanded by Lord Hodge is expected to be ready in three weeks and a further court hearing is likely to be arranged after that.

(As a side issue, I will point out that “CVA” is not accurately described above by the BBC, but actually stands for Company Voluntary Arrangement.)

Since June, apart from the declarations at the time by D&P that they welcomed the investigation as being a chance to clear their name (I paraphrase) not much seems to have happened.

Revealed – Craig Whyte’s Master Plan – He Came Up with the “Incubator Company”

The BBC produced an exchange of emails between Craig Whyte and David Grier from February this year regarding the terms for Duff & Phelps to be appointed as administrators. You can find the emails here. I have copied them at the bottom of this page.

The emails are very instructive regarding what Mr Whyte’s plan was back in February.

The tone is business-like but friendly, which is not what one would expect bearing in mind Mr Grier’s contention that he and his colleagues had been misled by Mr Whyte. Clearly they had resolved their differences.

So, let us go back to February. On the evening of Saturday 11^th, after Rangers had returned from Dunfermline where they had achieved a 4-1 victory, Mr Whyte emailed Mr Grier. This was in reply to a proposal regarding, amongst various matters, fees for the administration of Rangers.

Mr Whyte first of all asked that the proposal be addressed to the Rangers FC Group Ltd. This was agreed by Mr Grier.

On 14^th February when the administrators were appointed, this was at the instance of the company, Rangers Football Club PLC. It was not at the instance of Rangers FC Group Ltd, although as apparent floating charge holders that company could have appointed an administrator.

The BBC and Duff & Phelps – Emails Re Fees Quotation and Questions for David Grier

In which I:

Comment on the response of Duff & Phelps to the emails published by the BBC regarding the “fee agreement” with Craig Whyte;

Point out apparent differences between what D&P are saying now and what they said at the start of the administration process; and

Consider whether in fact Mr Daly could sue Mr Whitehouse for defamation, and thus leave D&P in court proving that they have acted properly, rather than having the BBC prove that D&P acted improperly (allegedly).

I also ask the following question:- What justified Mr Grier, in the summer of 2011, going to HMRC, a substantial creditor of his client, and telling them that he, they, the sellers of the business and the supporters and media have all been “duped”? Presumably Mr Grier got his client’s permission to breach confidentiality. If not, and he viewed this as such a fundamental breach of trust in the client-accountant relationship that he was justified in telling the major creditor that Mr Whyte was, to put it bluntly “at it” (allegedly), how could he, or his partners, continue to act for Rangers/Whyte/Wavetower/Liberty Capital?

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After Mark Daly’s further BBC programme about Rangers, its tax and financial affairs, and the role of administrators Duff & Phelps, there was a vigorous response from the Insolvency Practitioners. I wrote about their response and the questions that remained for D&P and its partner David Grier here.