The choice to prosecute seven people related to the Rangers takeover in 2012 has thus far price taxpayers at the least £51 million and led to zero convictions.
Just one particular person has ever confronted trial and was subsequently cleared.
Scotland's prime regulation officer was later compelled to apologise to parliament whereas opposition events claimed the entire episode had left a "everlasting stain" on the authorized system.
Labour MSP Pauline McNeill mentioned: "This case has been an entire catastrophe for the Scottish Authorities. The prices proceed to rise and all of the whereas the harm carried out to the integrity of our justice system continues."
It emerged that though the associated fee won't have to return out of the finances of the Crown Workplace and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), it's going to nonetheless be paid for by the Scottish Authorities and, by extension, taxpayers.
John Logue, interim Crown agent on the Crown Workplace, revealed the hovering price when he was grilled at a Holyrood committee yesterday.
Here's a timeline of how occasions unfolded:
Why was a police investigation launched?
The seven males who have been prosecuted have been concerned in both the administration or subsequent takeover of Rangers in 2012. Police Scotland launched a large investigation into what they described because the "alleged fraudulent acquisition" of the soccer membership. Officers spent 12 months investigating a number of allegations of fraud earlier than launching a sequence of arrests at daybreak in November 2014. Additional arrests adopted a yr later.
Who confronted prosecution?
Craig Whyte took management of Rangers from Sir David Murray in Might 2011. The membership went into administration in February the next yr. He was arrested in 2015 by Police Scotland as a part of a wider investigation into the takeover.
David Whitehouse and Paul Clark have been appointed directors when the corporate that ran the Ibrox membership went into administration. The duo had been introduced in to supervise the books as Rangers underwent a interval of monetary disaster. They left Ibrox in October 2012 and have been arrested two years later.
Insolvency professional David Grier, who labored alongside Whitehouse and Clark at Rangers in 2012, was arrested in 2014.
Gary Withey, a lawyer who suggested Craig Whyte throughout his takeover of Rangers, was arrested in 2014.
Businessman Charles Inexperienced grew to become chief government of Rangers in the summertime of 2012 and stood down in April the next yr. He was arrested in 2015.
Imran Ahmad, a finance professional, was appointed Rangers business director concurrently Inexperienced. He had left by April 2013. He was arrested in 2015.
Who ordered the prosecutions?
Frank Mulholland was serving as Lord Advocate - Scotland's prime regulation officer - when in 2015 he sanctioned prosecutions associated to the Rangers takeover. His time period as Lord Advocate led to 2016 and he's now a number one excessive courtroom decide. He was awarded a CBE in 2017.
James Wolfe was appointed Lord Advocate in 2016 and would later be compelled to apologise in parliament for the Crown Workplace's dealing with of the prosecutions.
In February 2021, Mulholland issued a press release by way of his solicitor to hit out at "false and scandalous" assaults made on him by opposition MSPs. One Tory member alleged that Mulholland had "went out of his method to see to it that two harmless males have been hounded by the state".
Mulholland's assertion mentioned "he has discovered it irritating to have his skilled status maligned, however has till now remained silent as a result of his judicial position."
He supported requires a full public inquiry into the prosecutions.
When have been the prosecutions dropped?
All expenses towards Withey, Clark, Whitehouse, Grier, Ahmad and Inexperienced have been dropped in 2016. Craig Whyte was the one one of many seven whose case proceeded to trial. He was cleared following a seven-week trial in 2017.
5 of them would later sue the Crown Workplace and Police Scotland.
In 2019, the Court docket of Session paved the way in which for pay-outs to be made after it dominated the workplace of Lord Advocate doesn't have immunity from claims of malicious prosecution.
In August 2020, a lawyer representing the Lord Advocate admitted the prosecution towards David Whitehouse and Paul Clark, past their preliminary courtroom look, was "malicious" and performed with out "possible trigger"
How a lot compensation was given?
It was introduced by the Crown Workplace in February 2021 that Whitehouse and Clark have been each awarded £10.5 million in damages, with a further £3 million to pay authorized charges. In a separate authorized declare in 2020, each males reached a monetary settlement out of courtroom with Police Scotland over their wrongful arrest. The quantity paid by police has not been disclosed.
Charles Inexperienced settled his authorized declare in August 2021 towards the Crown Workplace for £6.3 million plus authorized prices.
David Grier misplaced his £8.7 million malicious prosecution declare towards police and prosecutors in January. He launched an enchantment towards the choice in September on the Court docket of Session. Grier additionally made a grievance to Police Scotland's skilled requirements division which is but to be resolved.
Makes an attempt to mediate in a multi-million pound motion over wrongful prosecution introduced by Imran Ahmad failed to achieve a conclusion in September.
How a lot will taxpayers pay in complete?
It isn't but attainable to say as litigation continues. It was reported in July that Whyte was getting ready to sue each the Crown Workplace and Police Scotland for wrongful arrest.
Has anybody apologised?
James Wolfe, the then Lord Advocate, took the unprecedented step of constructing an apology within the Scottish Parliament in February 2021 for the botched prosecutions of Whitehouse and Clark. He mentioned: "On this specific case there was a really critical failure within the system of prosecution.
"It didn't stay as much as the requirements I count on, which the general public and this parliament are entitled to count on, and which the Crown Workplace expects of itself."