Comments (35)

Join the Discussion

Your email address will not be published.

  1. Brochan says:

    Who really cares? Get back to the day job.

    1. Massive corporate tax evasions and corrupt institutions is my day job

      1. jack elliot says:

        Corruption. Money and more corruption and money

        Is it not time to think about the implementation of M-pesa

        http://jackelliot.over-blog.com/2017/01/n.html

        This perhaps is the way to combat corruption of your day job

        As with Rangers and other institutions there would be a trace

      2. NRB says:

        Good come-back dude!

      3. charles says:

        erm-headline/paragraph-zero article-eh?! so having set up a debit to contribute to Bella will be cancelling right now-shite and really not good enough-even the likes of the daily fail have a few sentences, however incoherent and offensive-f..k sake

      4. Del boy says:

        It was tax avoidance not evasion which is a criminal offence…all this fake moral outrage people are feigning is rather amusing…no one batted an eyelid for over 100 years whilst both glasgow clubs diddled the attendance figures to trouser cash…it’s up to the Scottish league to take action now…and the courts to pursue similar companies down south…

    2. Peter1973 says:

      Brochan, I am assuming you are a Rangers fan. I realise I may be wrong though. If so, I respectfully suggest you should be outraged at the mismanagement of your club for nothing more than short term success.

  2. Kerly says:

    As rangers crash out of europe
    What has that got to to with tax case or independence

    1. Kerly says:

      No answer

      1. John Revie says:

        The answer is in the first sentence.

        1. Kerly says:

          Another agenda me thinks

  3. bringiton says:

    I suppose,the future of this organisation will,to some extent,be determined by how quickly HMRC want to be repaid.
    Can’t see many lining up to buy it if required however.
    Perhaps their supporters in the OO and the Conservative and Democratic Unionist party could arrange for a donation.
    Should be some spare from the NI bung.

    1. Pablo says:

      It has no direct bearing on the current clumpany operating out of Ibrox.

      However it’s perhaps noteworthy to any potential investors that despite obtaining such an obvious advantage during the ‘EBT years’, that they only won 4 out of 10 League Championships (gaining considerable additional benefits from CL participation, sponsorship etc).

      Sans EBTs, and with no feasible business plan evident, I wouldn’t expect there to be much of a queue of investors except perhaps those of an ilk identified during Craig Whyte’s recent trial as somewhat less trustworthy than Whyte himself.

      A sad state of affairs that has quite possibly irreparably damaged Scottish Football.

    2. Good suggestion, plenty of loose change from the Magic Money Tree

  4. Ian Anderson says:

    There was no point to this case which cost the taxpayers millions. It is unrecoverable money as that parent company no longer exists.

    1. Peter1973 says:

      Except that it will discourage other companies from abusing this system and they are now able to pursue other clubs, who are still trading, who used EBTs.

    2. Mick says:

      I think you’ll find there are various other clubs / companies still operating and who will now be pursued by HMRC so there was a point to this trial, not to mention the Moral Hazard aspect!

  5. Ally says:

    would have liked to have read this article-but there is none-apart from headline and a paragraph-right-so having just set up a debit for Bella that will be getting cancelled right now-shite and really not good enough-at least the likes of the fucking daily mail website actually have articles?!!!!!

    1. If for some reason your browser cant read this – as others can – read it on Storify here:

      https://storify.com/bellacaledonia/rangers-are-bust-ed-595cb5c4852e72246a02b41c?utm_source=embed_header

  6. Charles says:

    Is there actually anything beyond a paragraph here?!

    1. If for some reason your browser cant read this – as others can – read it on Storify here:

      https://storify.com/bellacaledonia/rangers-are-bust-ed-595cb5c4852e72246a02b41c?utm_source=embed_header

  7. Kenny Smith says:

    I have to say this and yes its because I’m a Rangers fan but getting a bit sick of the glee at all this. I’m also getting weary of the knuckle draggers bringing our fans into disrupt. I’m one of many Rangers supporters who support Indy and abhor the OO and Tory scum. Yes I admit there is a vocal horrible element to my club support but not all Chelsea, West Ham fans are in the ICF or any other team for that matter. The supporters done nothing wrong but we are the ones who bear the brunt of this shit. I won’t defend bad behaviour of any knob head supporter/s and I won’t admit that it was wrong to try and fiddle the books either. As far as I’m concerned the club was brought to its knees for the decisions a few at the top made like a lot of things, a bit like the banking crash its the sods at the bottom that have to pick up the crap left behind. English clubs have the dosh to pay their way out so they won’t be subjected to this especially the top half. I understand how other clubs supporters feel but this on an Indy website just seems like its dance on our grave constant. I don’t expect sympathy from anyone on here and I get the whole tax avoidance issue trust me it gets on my tits too, the whole system is rotten, we know that’s a main driver for Indy to change that. Ultimately both Celtic and Rangers get treated differently because they are the only show in town, is it right of course not but that’s the way it is. There is more pressing things wrong with Scottish/ world football. I know I’ll take pelters for this but give us a break we only want to support our team and continue we will

    1. Kerly says:

      Independence will not come until at least 50% of rangers leaning people change their voting so like it or not taking a swing at them at every opportunity is not the way to get them on side like .

      1. Interesting idea that the state of a nation depends on a section of the support of one club, and that to achieve independence we should therefore turn a blind eye to whatever a multi-million pound corporation do, even if that has a detrimental impact on other football clubs throughout the country, and to hundreds of small businesses cheated out of money owed as they go into liquidation through their own corrupt malpractice. Got it.

        1. Kerly says:

          Yes interesting but its a fact and people who don,t know you will make an instant judgement and will just see you as having an agenda independence will not be gained buy scoring points

          1. Independence will not be gained by shying away from difficult subjects or by protecting the powerful and the corrupt.

    2. Thanks for your comment Kenny, I appreciate the plight of the many decent Rangers fans who have been dragged through this, and have done nothing wrong, both in the sense of the financial malpractice of their club and in the sense of the identification with a loyalist brand.

      In terms of this being an indy site, it absolutely is, but it is also a site committed to exploring corruption and power in Scottish society and to examining institutions that are not fit for purpose. The lack of governance and leadership within Scottish football is almost universally agreed to be dire.

      As for the comment that ‘Ultimately both Celtic and Rangers get treated differently because they are the only show in town’, I think that statement is no longer true. The idea that the Old Firm still exists is one of several myths being perpetuated by people clinging to a broken model.

      This is about large-scale tax evasion and corporate fraud and its about creating a level-playing field for other clubs in Scottish football.

      1. Pablo says:

        It’s perhaps worth pointing out that one of the issues during indyref was ‘How would HBoS and RBS have coped if Scotland was independent?’

        The tax case and the many issues surrounding Rangers seemingly never-ending flow of ready cash are instructive into how corruption works when there’s little or no regulatory oversight. These banks collapsed due to some of the seriously flawed business practices that enabled companies like MIH to grow far beyond their capabilities, not to mention that such practices weren’t afforded to everyone (see RBS ‘Vampire Unit’ for instance); Ian Fraser has numerous articles on both.

        Then there’s the tax case alone and questions should be asked as to why this was allowed to happen in the first place. Is it because of the various loop-holes within the UK tax system and the reluctance to enforce the rules as they are intended – with an almost negligent attitude towards both tax-avoidance and tax-evasion – that sees the UK being ranked highly among the World’s tax-havens?

        This in itself is an indy issue, with many commentators speculating at what Scotland’s tax stance would be, ie detractors suggest we’d become a low-taxation economy like the tax-haven we evidently have already become.

        so, if a ‘football story’ on an Indy blog is too much for you, or you feel this is someone having a cheap and easy shot at your club, please try to read the story from the perspective of the issues behind it.

        1. Thanks Pablo. It’s about thinking ‘Why do we do this this way?’ ‘Who’s in charge?’ ‘Can we do things better?’ & not just accepting endemic bigotry or corruption or failure as somehow normal and somehow nothing we can do anything about. It’s called ‘learned failure’.

          The idea that you can’t / shouldn’t talk about it until after independence is pitiful.

    3. Gordon Cuthbertson says:

      Well said Kenny and I am a Celtic fan. I welcome the supreme court judgment which means that the liquidators ( of old Rangers) will now have to pay out to the tax man. I particularly welcome the judgment in the hope that the many other businesses who used ebt will now have to pay up too. I hope that even this broken United Kingdom will use the funds on hard pressed public services. Talk of stripping titles etc is unjustified in my opinion. Let’s get back to leaving the so called United Kingdom.

  8. Graham says:

    I find the persistent intermingling of Scottish political discussion with football baffling. If our parliamentarians can spend “whatever it takes” of taxpayers money to carpet bomb Arabs while simultaneously dipping the public purse by mass fiddling expenses, good on the Huns or anyone else for depriving them of funds. Scotland free or a desert.

  9. Kenny Smith says:

    Mike, Pablo I agree with you I really do. The issue for me and it is just my opinion that the several times this issue has appeared on here by various writers it comes across as snidey gleeful gloating almost. Whether that’s right or wrong or intentional or not that’s just the way it seems. Since this has came about trust me its been difficult as a fan. On one hand I deplore it but I can’t help but feel again its the fans that have suffered and personally feel we have had to endure enough as is, again I will expect a response from people who differ. The good thing is most people who comment here are on the whole well rounded and make their case in a responsible manner. One of my main reasons for wanting Indy was the hope it could accelerate the process of eradicating sectarianism in Scotland. I’m not saying tax avoidance should not be challenged but personally I visit this site to inform me of history, culture and information that’s pertinent to the yes movement not let’s have a dig at football fans for something they didn’t ask for or were involved with, again I know someone will view that differently. As for Scottish football and the clubs within in maybe greater fan participation at board level would go a long way in bringing it back to the people and communities it means the most to

    1. Corrupt institutions, widescale malpractice and blatantly useless governance are ‘pertinent to the Yes movement’.

  10. Donald Findlay says:

    “Rangers crash out of Europe in their worst result in history”

    5 year old history ;0)

    1. Kerly says:

      A pure dig

Help keep our journalism independent

We don’t take any advertising, we don’t hide behind a pay wall and we don’t keep harassing you for crowd-funding. We’re entirely dependent on our readers to support us.

Subscribe to regular bella in your inbox

Don’t miss a single article. Enter your email address on our subscribe page by clicking the button below. It is completely free and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.