Craig Whyte was told that he’d be mad to go through with the £1 deal to buy Rangers by his corporate lawyer.
Gary Withey made the revelation at the fraud trial of the former billionaire who put a pound coin into the hands of Dave Murray in May 2011.
Last week Withey told the court that he’d never known anyone keener than Murray to get a deal concluded.
Live tweets are still banned from the case which simply gives James Doleman extra time to check his notes before tweeting during breaks in the proceedings.
In court this morning Withey claimed that more than 80 people were aware that Whyte would be paying off the debt to Lloyds Bank with funds from Ticketus in a move known as robbing Billy to pay Willie.
Findlay “from 2010 Mr Whyte was clear the Ticketus money would be used to pay off the bank debt owed to Lloyds”
— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 15, 2017
Withey on Ticketus deal “more than 80 people knew about it”
1/2— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 15, 2017
Under questioning from Findlay more details emerged with the so-called ‘data room’ missing all of the key information leading Withey to the conclusion that his client should have walked away.
Withey says modern takeover “data rooms” are usually virtual environments that update automatically.
1/2— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 15, 2017
This was a box cupboard with a small desk and 6 files.”
— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 15, 2017
Witness says there was nothing in the data room about the “small tax case” only found out about it later.
1/2— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 15, 2017
“I was told it was always in the data room, but it wasn’t”
2/2— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 15, 2017
Withey “the big tax case seemed to swamp everything in the end, but it wasn’t in the data room”
— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 15, 2017
Withey: “I told Mr Whyte he would be mad to go ahead with this transaction and he should walk away”
— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) May 15, 2017
