Andrew Neil has shone an uncomfortable torch onto the scandal of the compensation pay outs made to the those that were maliciously prosecuted for their involvement in the administration of the old Rangers club that went into liquidation in 2012.
Last week it was revealed that £21m in compensation had been paid out to Paul Clark and David Whitehouse from Duff & Phelps. With legal costs of around £3m almost coming out of the public purse.
In these days of huge demands for Government funding it seems utterly incredible that those sort of sums are paid out for what is essentially white-collar issues. Anyone maliciously prosected deserves compensation but families of murder victims or disasters don’t get pay-outs anywhere near that level.
As well as Clark and Muirhouse it seems that other individuals such as Charles Green will be due compensation for their involvement in a football club.
If there is evidence of malicious prosecutions then those involved should be investigated, what basis were they working on and who gave it their approval. So far the issue has been a minor one within Scotland, popping up now and then.
Neil is a former Sunday Times editor and BBC Presenter, with 1.1m followers on Twitter he probably has greater digital reach than all Scottish newspaper publishers combined.
There are far more serious issues going on just now but this sort of thing needs addressed rather than buried in among enquiries into enquiries.
CLICK HERE for Herald report.
Devastating column in @heraldscotland by @iainmacwhirter on Scottish Crown Office — and, believe me, its troubles are only just beginning:
“£14m, £20m, £24m – eye-watering sum in damages awarded to those wrongly prosecuted for fraud over Rangers bankruptcy grow larger by day.— Andrew Neil (@afneil) January 24, 2021
The Lord Advocate himself, James Wolffe QC, will shortly make a public apology to the two men for having pursued a “malicious prosecution” against them “without probable cause”.
— Andrew Neil (@afneil) January 24, 2021
“Malicious”, note. Not just mistaken in law, or based on unreliable evidence, but acting with malice: with the intention of personally injuring two innocent citizens.
Forget reputational damage to the Crown Office – this is reputational obliteration.”Watch this space.
— Andrew Neil (@afneil) January 24, 2021
Losing £24million in damages for “malevolent prosecution”, blocking documents in the Salmond inquiry, hounding journalists like Mark Hirst. Scotland’s prosecution service is too close to government, too remote from natural justice. https://t.co/4ZMSnA4nfp
— Iain Macwhirter (@iainmacwhirter) January 24, 2021