By David Gold
August 20 – Lord Nimmo Smith has been appointed to chair a Scottish Premier League (SPL) inquiry into player payments at fallen giants Glasgow Rangers.
The club allegedly breached SPL rules relating to the use of Employment Benefit Trust (EBT) payments to their players.
EBT is a complex tax avoidance scheme which Rangers are alleged to have used since the turn of the millennium.
The SPL began a probe in March, which was delayed by Rangers’ administrators, and it has even been suggested that they could be stripped of some of their league titles won during the period if they are found guilty.
“The Scottish Premier League has announced that the independent commission to inquire into alleged EBT payments and arrangements made by Rangers in relation to players during the period from 2000 until 2011 will be chaired by Lord Nimmo Smith,” the SPL said in a statement.
“The commission will determine whether during that period in relation to alleged EBT payments and arrangements for players, Rangers was in breach of the relevant SPL rules.
“In the event that the independent commission decides that such breach or breaches occurred the independent commission will have powers to determine what sanctions, if any, are appropriate.”
Lord Smith has served as an insolvency judge in the past and was part of the panel of judges who heard an appeal from Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi in 2002.
The commission will decide if any sanctions are necessary against the club, and Charles Flint QC and Nicholas Stewart QC will join Lord Smith to sit in judgment on the case.
Rangers are facing four counts of bringing the game into disrepute following their financial collapse last year.
They have already been handed a 12-month transfer embargo.
Rangers were relegated to the third division of the Scottish league for the first time in their history this season after going into liquidation and being reformed.
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