Rangers fined £50,000 over Craig Whyte's director ban

Rangers have been fined £50,000 by the Plus stock exchange over failing to declare Craig Whyte's previous ban on being a director when he took over the club.

Mr Whyte was disqualified in 2000 for seven years but Rangers did not announce this until November 30, six weeks after the Insolvency Service had confirmed the fact in a BBC documentary.

Rangers have been issued with the fine and a public censure following an investigation by the stock exchange, who suspended trading in the club's shares last month because of their failure to publish audited accounts.

Plus began the investigation into Mr Whyte following the BBC documentary broadcast in October 2011. The documentary claimed Mr Whyte had been disqualified as a director in 2000 for a period of seven years.

Plus stock exchange found that Rangers were in breach of their rules by not disclosing that Craig Whyte had been disqualified at the time of the annoucement in May 2011 that he was buying the company.

The stock exchange said that they considered this to be a serious breach of their rules because such a disclosure was expressly required in their rules because it is relevant to investors.

They said investors need this information so that they could form an opinion on a company and its management and would have affected the reputation of the Rangers board.

Plus stock exchange said: "The information relating to Mr Whyte goes to the reputation of Rangers FC's board of directors. Mr. Whyte's director disqualification may have an effect on the prospects of Rangers FC as an issuer traded on the Plus-quoted market as well as on Rangers FC’s ability to raise further funding if required at a future date.

"The failure by Rangers FC to disclose this information has generated adverse publicity for Rangers FC which has harmed its interests."

They added that they have an obligation to protect investors and to maintain an orderly diclosure-based market, saying: "A consequence of non-disclosure by Rangers FC of information required to be announced by the Plus Rules is that Plus was impeded from exercising its regulatory functions."

Plus added that despite meeting with officials from the club at the club on November 8, they did not announce it until November 30, six weeks after the documentary, which they considered an unreasonable delay.

In their statement they also said that they took seriously the club's failure to disclose Craig Whyte's disqualification to other bodies, namely the Takeover Panel and the SFA.

They said: "Whilst Plus does not rely on any breaches of regulations other than the Plus Rules to reach its decision to serve this Disciplinary Notice, the lack of disclosure to other regulatory bodies further illustrates (i) that the failure to disclose was deliberate, negligent or reckless and (ii) Rangers FC's lack of willingness to make an announcement in a timely fashion."

They concluded: "Plus considers the regulatory fine of GBP 50,000 imposed on Rangers FC as appropriate taking into account a range of factors including, but not limited to, the seriousness of the rule breach and the circumstances of Rangers FC."

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