Former Rangers chairman Al Johnston has accused the SFA of negligence in relation to the dual contract issue that has sparked an investigation from the SPL.
Following yesterday’s outburst from Charles Green and Paul Clark of Duff & Phelps Johnson used the Rangers Supporters Trust to point the finger at the SFA.
In March 2011 Johnston sparked open warfare in the BBC Sports Desk by mentioning HMRC’s investigation of the EBT issue as the gorilla in the room.
That issue prompted the SFA to make further investigations before providing the club with a licence to operate in the 2011/12 season despite their last audited accounts being published in June 2010.
The SFA licence allowed Rangers to compete in the 2011/12 season during which they went into administration with the liquidation process currently underway.
Reflecting back on that issue Johnson told the Rangers Trust: “The SFA is complicit in all of this because they have not at least up until now had the courage to publicly acknowledge that they either ignored or did not really understand the well-publicized structure surrounding the relationship that Rangers FC had with certain of its players.
“I have been reviewing my files from around April 2011 relating to the annual routine of Rangers FC applying for and being granted a license to participate in organized football in Scotland.
“Because of the publicity surrounding our club at the time, the SFA wrote to us asking for more details about the public speculation concerning our financial and tax situation.
“The latter obviously referenced the impact of the EBT schemes as creating a potential taxation liability. The club responded accordingly and provided details, as it had done in previous years, by declaring player salaries, bonuses, benefits, etc., but also payments made to a Remuneration Trust.
“The SFA compliance officers must have known, both from the description and context of the reports, that such expenditures had some connection to player compensation. However, without any further investigation at the time, Rangers FC received its SFA license to compete in the 2011/2012 season.
“Rangers, therefore, were entitled to believe that they were not in breach of any SFA regulation requiring reporting of player compensation. If there was any question that the essence of these payments to a Remuneration Trust could have endangered the proud historical record of our team, then why was it not raised long before then.”
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Every person that has been associated with Ibrokes past & present are still in denial.The blame game is nothing but a distraction pure garb, their days of denial are finally numbered. But the truth will prevail. Hail Hail.
It’s the same big boy whit done it and ran away Maw. Disnae matter if it’s riots in Manchester, no payin’ oor taxes or then EBTs it wisnae us.
sooner we get rid of them the better!
Why did it take so long to provide the requested documentation from the now defunct Govan Club…why did Baldy Bain demand that certain documents be shredded….why try to blame the SFA, the blame started from within the corridors of Ibrox and should remain there. Do murders claim they are only guilty because someone sold them a gun ?
Johnston like all the rest ran for the hills as soon as HMRC appeared, staying only long enough to try & hide his own misdeeds……On the board for the duration of the EBT system he said HEE HAW…but now wants to pass the buck to the SFA.
The reason the licence was granted was because it was Rangers men who were in charge at Hampden Park. They are all in it together. This is what is so amazing, they are all blaming each other yet the rotten lot of them were part of the same conspiracy.
Hehe the appocolipse shall descend on them. And actually let it take a long long time. I really am enjoying the ah buts. Ah but it wasn’t us…Ah but it was Green …. Naw ah but it was Murray …. Ah but we are the peeeeple. Not any more little brutal bigots byeeeeee
So if the police don’t find the body when they search my house even though I let them in and show them round that means I’ve not murdered anyone?
They’ve been caught and now this guy is blaming the SFA for not catching them sooner. Turning a blind eye more like.
“,,,reviewing my files….” Really ?
Pathetic.
Rats on a sinking ship will try anything to escape.
Time for the SFA/SPL to play hardball with the shame or go down with them.
The whole of Scottish football have been cheated by this mob it’s time to kill them off. Unless the authorities have something to hide to.
Is Johnston declaring that he and Rangers FC stated the amounts paid to each player via the the EBT every year and that they were contractually obliged to pay the set amounts to the players?
Or is he just saying that they declared the total amount of money they paid into the EBT pot and expects the SFA to known that players were then paid a contracted amount from the pot each year?
If it is so clear then the HMRC would not have taken as long to get to the roots of issue. Let him publish the documents from the files that show that Rangers declared the contracted amounts paid to the Rangers players each year.
The biggest employer @ ibrokes was/is the shredder. Must be an EBT