Football Crazy
Glasgow Rangers fans must be tearing their hair out at the latest reports surrounding the arrest of five men including former owner, Craig Whyte, who are all suspected of fraudulent activity over the sale of the once mighty Ibrox club.
Now quite how the club could have been sold in such controversial circumstances is a mystery to me and no doubt many Rangers fans as well.
Perhaps another case of due diligence light?
Former Rangers owner Craig Whyte held at Heathrow Airport
Mr Whyte is expected to appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Friday
Former Rangers owner Craig Whyte has been arrested after arriving in the UK from Mexico where he had been detained.
The 43-year-old was held at Heathrow Airport on Thursday and will be taken to Scotland for an expected appearance at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Friday.
He is being held on an arrest warrant in relation to an investigation into his takeover of Rangers in 2011.
Mr Whyte was detained in Mexico after being refused entry. Extradition proceedings were not required.
Earlier, a Crown Office spokesman said: "We have been advised that the warrant for Craig Whyte has been executed by the Mexican authorities.
"Our International Co-operation unit, working with Police Scotland's Fugitives Unit and the National Crime Agency, will take the necessary steps to secure his appearance at Glasgow Sheriff Court to answer the warrant."
Mr Whyte took control of Rangers in May 2011 but the club went into administration in February the following year.
Four men have already appeared in court charged with fraudulent activity following the investigation into the sale of Rangers.
David Grier, 53, Paul Clark, 50, and David Whitehouse, 49, worked for Duff and Phelps - Rangers' administrators.
Others charged
The fourth man, Gary Withey, 50, worked for law firm Collyer Bristow, which represented Mr Whyte before he bought Rangers from Sir David Murray for £1 in 2011.
All four made no plea or declaration at Glasgow Sheriff Court and were granted bail ahead of a future hearing.
Mr Grier, Mr Clark and Mr Whitehouse were also charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.
A separate arrest warrant was also issued last week for Mr Whyteafter he failed to attend a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London in relation to a separate legal case.
He has been sued for about £18m by Ticketus in relation to his acquisition of Rangers.
I will read with interest the soon-to-be-released report from the Financial Services Authority ((FSA) - on the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
The city regulator and financial watchdog has been investigating the debacle - which led to complete collapse and subsequent nationalisation of RBS - under the leadership of Sir Fred Goodwin.
The Scotsman newspaper suggests today that the former directors of RBS - including Sir Fred - will escape any further punishment over accusations that they misled investors.
Investors were asked to support the ailing bank in a £12.5 billion rights issue - yet within months the bank jhad fallen apart and required a £45 billion bailout from the UK government.
The Scotsman says the FSA probe will question the incentives paid to City advisers and the FSA's own role in supervising the banking sector as it plunged into crisis.
The paper also predicts that the FSA will deliver deliver a damning judgement on the lack of due diligence into the RBS‑led consortium’s acquisition of Dutch bank ABN Amro - saying that it amounted to “two lever‑arch files and a CD‑ROM”.
Here's what I wrote about the scandalous affair back in October 2011.
A Litte Bit Pregnant (October 18th 2011)
I watched the excellent BBC programme last night - on the rise and fall of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
The action focused on the bank's former chief executive - Sir Fred Goodwin - who was nominated for his knighthood by none other than Gordon Brown MP - the former Chancellor and Labour Prime Minister.
And Sir Fred didn't disappoint - in fact I learned something new, an exciting new term - which Sir Fred 'decribed as 'due diligence light' or DDL for short.
Now as I understand what Sir Fred was saying 'due diligence light' is the banking equivalent - of being a little bit pregnant.
In other words - it's a concept that exists only in the mind of the befuddled, deluded or couldn't care less.
Because DDL is what Sir Fred and RBS applied as their 'stress test' - in shelling out 27 billion Euros to take over part of rival Dutch based bank - ABN AMRO.
Now I took this as shorthand for Sir Fred and his RBS colleagues saying - 'we can't be bothered our arse to check what we are buying with all this shareholders money'.
So we'll just 'hope for the best' and pretend that banks can be - a little bit pregnant.
Result - complete disaster.
Because as it turned out Sir Fred and the board of RBS which backed the deal unanimously - bought themselves a pig in a poke.
ABN AMRO wasn't worth a row of beans - never mind 27 billion Euros - and most of its 'assets' was worthelss sub prime mortgage stock in the USA.
Yet while the UK banking sector almost collapsed - and RBS shareholders lost all their money - Sir Fred turned up smelling of roses - and left the company with a pension worth £690,000 a year.
Which Sir Fred magnanimously agreed to reduce to only £340,000 a year - in the wake of a huge public outcry.
So if anyone tries to persuade you about the merits of due diligence light - tell them to stick it where the sun don't shine.
Because it simply doesn't exist.
Former Rangers owner Craig Whyte has been arrested after arriving in the UK from Mexico where he had been detained.
The 43-year-old was held at Heathrow Airport on Thursday and will be taken to Scotland for an expected appearance at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Friday.
He is being held on an arrest warrant in relation to an investigation into his takeover of Rangers in 2011.
Mr Whyte was detained in Mexico after being refused entry. Extradition proceedings were not required.
Earlier, a Crown Office spokesman said: "We have been advised that the warrant for Craig Whyte has been executed by the Mexican authorities.
"Our International Co-operation unit, working with Police Scotland's Fugitives Unit and the National Crime Agency, will take the necessary steps to secure his appearance at Glasgow Sheriff Court to answer the warrant."
Mr Whyte took control of Rangers in May 2011 but the club went into administration in February the following year.
Four men have already appeared in court charged with fraudulent activity following the investigation into the sale of Rangers.
David Grier, 53, Paul Clark, 50, and David Whitehouse, 49, worked for Duff and Phelps - Rangers' administrators.
Others charged
The fourth man, Gary Withey, 50, worked for law firm Collyer Bristow, which represented Mr Whyte before he bought Rangers from Sir David Murray for £1 in 2011.
All four made no plea or declaration at Glasgow Sheriff Court and were granted bail ahead of a future hearing.
Mr Grier, Mr Clark and Mr Whitehouse were also charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.
A separate arrest warrant was also issued last week for Mr Whyteafter he failed to attend a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London in relation to a separate legal case.
He has been sued for about £18m by Ticketus in relation to his acquisition of Rangers.
Due Diligence (10 December 2011)
The city regulator and financial watchdog has been investigating the debacle - which led to complete collapse and subsequent nationalisation of RBS - under the leadership of Sir Fred Goodwin.
The Scotsman newspaper suggests today that the former directors of RBS - including Sir Fred - will escape any further punishment over accusations that they misled investors.
Investors were asked to support the ailing bank in a £12.5 billion rights issue - yet within months the bank jhad fallen apart and required a £45 billion bailout from the UK government.
The Scotsman says the FSA probe will question the incentives paid to City advisers and the FSA's own role in supervising the banking sector as it plunged into crisis.
The paper also predicts that the FSA will deliver deliver a damning judgement on the lack of due diligence into the RBS‑led consortium’s acquisition of Dutch bank ABN Amro - saying that it amounted to “two lever‑arch files and a CD‑ROM”.
Here's what I wrote about the scandalous affair back in October 2011.
A Litte Bit Pregnant (October 18th 2011)
I watched the excellent BBC programme last night - on the rise and fall of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
The action focused on the bank's former chief executive - Sir Fred Goodwin - who was nominated for his knighthood by none other than Gordon Brown MP - the former Chancellor and Labour Prime Minister.
And Sir Fred didn't disappoint - in fact I learned something new, an exciting new term - which Sir Fred 'decribed as 'due diligence light' or DDL for short.
Now as I understand what Sir Fred was saying 'due diligence light' is the banking equivalent - of being a little bit pregnant.
In other words - it's a concept that exists only in the mind of the befuddled, deluded or couldn't care less.
Because DDL is what Sir Fred and RBS applied as their 'stress test' - in shelling out 27 billion Euros to take over part of rival Dutch based bank - ABN AMRO.
Now I took this as shorthand for Sir Fred and his RBS colleagues saying - 'we can't be bothered our arse to check what we are buying with all this shareholders money'.
So we'll just 'hope for the best' and pretend that banks can be - a little bit pregnant.
Result - complete disaster.
Because as it turned out Sir Fred and the board of RBS which backed the deal unanimously - bought themselves a pig in a poke.
ABN AMRO wasn't worth a row of beans - never mind 27 billion Euros - and most of its 'assets' was worthelss sub prime mortgage stock in the USA.
Yet while the UK banking sector almost collapsed - and RBS shareholders lost all their money - Sir Fred turned up smelling of roses - and left the company with a pension worth £690,000 a year.
Which Sir Fred magnanimously agreed to reduce to only £340,000 a year - in the wake of a huge public outcry.
So if anyone tries to persuade you about the merits of due diligence light - tell them to stick it where the sun don't shine.
Because it simply doesn't exist.
