THE Crown Office and Police Scotland are facing another £7 million payout in the case of the Rangers FC administrators who were wrongfully prosecuted.
Two days after judge Lord Tyre ruled that there was “no probable cause” for the fraud prosecution of the failed club’s administrator David Grier, 58, lawyers for Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC were given one week by the Court of Session to allow consultation on how the Crown wishes to proceed.
Grier is seeking £5m from the Crown Office and £2m from Police Scotland over the prosecutions that followed a fraud inquiry into the collapse of Rangers in 2012.
Gerry Moynihan QC for the Crown Office told the court at a virtual hearing that he needed time for further consultation and said he would need a maximum of seven days to tender his advice to the Crown Office and get instructions on how the case should proceed.
On Tuesday, Tyre ruled that Grier had been wrongfully prosecuted, stating that “the prosecution was initiated and continued in the absence of reasonable and probable cause”.
Tyre added: “It is acknowledged by the pursuer [Grier] that a finding of absence of reasonable and probable cause does not necessarily imply that the prosecution was malicious, and that, at least on the law as currently understood, the pursuer will require to prove malice before his claim for damages can succeed.”
Last month The National revealed that the Crown Office had paid £10.5m each in damages to administrators David Whitehouse and Paul Clark as well as a total of more than £3m in legal expenses.
Wolffe admitted both men had been maliciously prosecuted and apologised to them and the Scottish Parliament, while multi-million-pound payouts are also due to former Rangers chief executive Charles Green and club commercial director Imran Ahmad.
Police Scotland has paid £150,000 in compensation plus a contribution to legal costs to Whitehouse and Clark over the malicious prosecution, but Grier is seeking £2m from the force.
In addition, The National has revealed that the administrators’ employers, insolvency experts Duff & Phelps are bringing legal action for corporate reputational damage, seeking compensation of tens of millions.
In the Scottish Parliament the Lord Advocate issued an “unreserved apology” to Whitehouse and Clark, saying they should not have been prosecuted, but he denied there had been any criminal misconduct by the investigators.
He added: “In this particular case there was a very serious failure in the system of prosecution.
“It did not live up to the standards I expect, which the public and this Parliament are entitled to expect, and which the Crown Office expects of itself.
“What happened in this particular case should not have happened, I tender my apology to the Parliament and the public that it did happen, and for the consequent cost to the public purse.”
Tory finance spokesperson Murdo Fraser MSP has called for a public inquiry into the issue and for it to be led by a judge from outside of Scotland, and the Crown Office has indicated that it will cooperate with any such inquiry.
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