Rod McKenzie of law firm Harper MacLeod has revealed in the Court of Session in Edinburgh that Rangers had been operating tax scams going back to 1989.
It had been thought that the Discount Option Schemes used to pay Tore Andre Flo and Ronald de Boer in 2000 were the first tax dodges but now it appears to go back a further decade.
Dave Murray took control of the club in 1988 with money borrowed from the Bank of Scotland and was greeted as a genius for his ability to recruit players who would normally be outwith the finances of a club that was £9m in debt when he took over.
McKenzie “Since 1989 Rangers operated two, we could call them, tax avoidance schemes,” he was asked to undertake investigation in 2012
— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) January 19, 2017
In 1989 Maurice Johnstone was lured back to Scotland despite the friendly French tax systems with Trevor Steven and Gary Stevens signed from Everton.
Oleg Kutznetov and Alexi Mikhailichenko joining up from Dinamo Kiev and Sampdoria as Murray chased the big cup.
Foreign referees were to prove a difficult barrier to get around with the club suffering a number of embarrassments against minnows such as Steau Bucharest, Gothenborg, Auxerre and Grasshoppers of Zurich.
In 2011 with his debt mountain falling apart Murray sold the club for £1 to former billionaire Craig Whyte.
Previously a shadow had been cast over every Rangers trophy since 1998, with McKenzie’s admission today the entire Murray era from 1989 including the tainted 9-in-a-row was ‘funded’ on ta evasion.
