STV News has challenged Alastair Johnston over breaking company law during his spell as chairman of Rangers Football Club prior to liquidation.
During the Craig Whyte fraud trial it was revealed that Martin Bain was awarded a contract with a 39 month notice period despite the maximum allowable contract being for two years.
Johnston was chairman of the club prior to Whyte’s takeover and is now back at Ibrox as a director of Rangers International Football Club.
Despite being based in the USA Johnston had overall responsibility for boardroom matters with Donald Findlay exposing the jobs for the boys culture that led towards the downfall of Rangers FC.
Asked about Bain’s 39 month notice period Johnston told STV: “ By saying this letter was not enforceable, that was the concern.
“That letter quite clearly spelled out the fact it was a 39-month contract which was 15 months longer than it could have been to be enforceable.
“But the bottom line was this was a basically a surety that gave comfort to a guy that all other things being equal, he will make this amount of money.
“Notwithstanding the fact I’d asked the majority of the directors about it, I still had made it clear to Martin Bain there was a possibility that letter of agreement would not be enforceable because it could be regarded as being unenforceable under the terms of the Companies Act. He was very aware of that.”
As well as his generous notice period Bain was paid a £360,000 bonus when Rangers were sold to Chris Whyte despite having little involvement in the deal.
The former male model is now Chief Executive of recently relegated Sunderland.
It’s not known if STV asked Johnston about the 2011 UEFA licence that Rangers received despite an overdue tax bill of £2.8m.