FORMER Rangers chief executive Charles Green says the £6m he has won from from the Lord Advocate in a settlement over his claim for being maliciously prosecuted in the collapsed club fraud case will not adequately compensate for the damage done.
Details of the 11th hour settlement from Lord Advocate James Wolffe came yesterday as an eight day hearing into Mr Green's claim for £20m was about to take place The Lord Advocate made a public apology to Mr Green in June as the damages case was being progressed.
It emerged during an earlier hearing that Police Scotland were no longer being sued as part of the action brought by Mr Green. No reasons were given as to why this was the case.
The 67-year-old businessman was arrested with several other men following a police probe into alleged fraud in relation to the sale of the current Scottish champions to businessman Craig Whyte.
Mr Green, whose Sevco consortium, bought the assets of the club business in liquidation nine years ago for £5.5m was due to receive compensation after Crown lawyers accepted he was subjected to a malicious fraud prosecution.
Mr Green, now based in Dubai, was told three years ago he would face no further proceedings in connection with the case as prosecutors said there is "now no evidence of a crime".
After the out of court settlement, his solicitor Greg Whyte of Jones Whyte said it that while it was an "acceptable offer" in a "landmark settlement" but that money was never going to be enough having hit by reputational damage by the Rangers affair.
Mr Whyte said: "Nobody would ever have chosen to have been in this situation and ultimately in any damages action, all you are going to get is money.
"Nobody can turn back time, nobody can change what has happened. "It is an extraordinary case all in. An apology that came in June was comprehensive and was a full recognition that this is a prosecution that shouldn't have happened.
"The overwhelming emotion from Mr Green is one of relief that he can now put this behind him, because this has gone on since 2015, and that he can move on with his life. He isn't getting any younger.
"He just wants to get back to living his life and spend time with his family.
"He suffered a lot of stigma because of this. Lots of friends and business associates distanced themselves from him. He is now regaining that - and people are expressing personal delight that this chapter for him is now concluded."
Mr Green has no intention of retiring and is now exploring a few business projects.
"He intends to continue to work. The apology in June will allow him to some extent get back into the business world, he is an experienced businessman and has been for many years," said Mr Whyte.
"It is a massive relief for him and we are delighted to be able to get him what he consider is a great result.
"It goes someway to rectify the significant losses suffered by Mr Green as a result of the Crown Office's malicious prosecution against him."
Garry Borland QC for Mr Green said the settlement from Lord Advocate James Wolffe came in the form of a "judicial tender" in the amount of £6,393,046 plus Mr Green's legal costs.
It emerged during an earlier hearing that Police Scotland were no longer being sued as part of the action brought by Mr Green. No reasons were given as to why this was the case.
Part of Mr Mr Green's claim related to losses made from two businesses after he was prosecuted.
Mr Borland told the Court of Session: "Mr Green was the victim of an egregious wrong at the hands of prosecuting authorities and the proof this morning was fixed to deal with the quantification of his claims against the Lord Advocate.
He added: "It will be for the public enquiry, to examine how this malicious prosecution of Mr Green could possibly have been allowed to happen. But at this stage, I would simply thank this court for its handling of these civil proceedings."
Lord Tyre said: "Obviously, from my part, I'm happy that the case was settled. I could grumble about the fact that it took until the morning of the proof and therefore, it would have saved me obviously some work if this had happened last week, but in the circumstances I shall refrain from doing so."
Gerry Moyniham QC, for the Lord Advocate James Wolffe said: "There is no opposition to what my learned friend has made by way of motions, and it's not appropriate for me to add anything, or comment.
Mr Moynihan said at an earlier hearing that more information was needed about the financial losses relating to Mr Green.
He said one of the issues in the cases related to the amount of damage that was done to a company he had been involved with called Proton International. There was further information needed on damage done to a firm Mr Green had been involved with, Florida-based firm called Croton.
Mr Moynihan said Mr Green’s legal team had submitted a report written by staff members of international financial services company KPMG about the financial losses.
Craig Whyte, who ended up being the last man standing in the long-running case, was cleared in the summer of 2017 of all charges in connection with his 2011 club purchase from Sir David Murray.
The case brought by Mr Green come in the light of admissions made by the Crown in another case brought by businessmen David Whitehouse and Paul Clark. Prosecutors admitted Mr Whitehouse and Mr Clark were wrongfully arrested and prosecuted and the two men sought a total of £20.8 million from the Crown Office and Police Scotland.
But they later settled their action with each of them receiving £10.3 million each - their legal bills, thought to be worth £3 million each, were also paid for.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel