Rangers creditors have received a £2 million cut in potential payouts as the cost of the oldco liquidation has soared.

The bill for the liquidation process which came after Rangers Football Club plc went into administration, has risen by 20 per cent (£2.171 million) in the year since April, last year from £10.7 million to £12.9 million.

This means the payout pot for companies and individuals owed money has dropped from £18.771 million to £16.663 million in one year.

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BDO, liquidators of the Rangers oldco since October, 2012, have pocketed around £800k in the year and have now collected nearly £3m, while not a single creditor has yet been reimbursed.

Key solicitors fees in relation to the liquidation and litigation have risen by £886,299 in the year to currently stand at £7.761million.

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Funds from the long-running liquidation process have been devoted to continuing to fight the long-running ‘Big Tax Case’ at the Supreme Court which could have a major bearing on the amount of money given to creditors from the liquidation. Some £152,186 has been spent on counsel costs alone to fight the case.

BDO were successful in an application to the Court of Session in March to be granted leave to make a legal challenge to the highest appeal court in the land.

They sought to contest a Court of Session decision in November that Rangers’ use of Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs) from 2001 until 2010 to give millions of pounds of tax-free loans to players and other staff broke tax rules.

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Liquidators had previously confirmed that £72m of the £94.4m owed to HMRC relies on the taxman’s claim that Rangers was liable for its use of EBTs. Its failure to win that would cut the maximum debt down from around £160m to £96.8m.

The original November EBT judgment meant the taxman, in one of the biggest tax claims it has ever pursued, won its claim Rangers oldco were liable for a £46.2 million plus charges bill over the use of EBTs.

The Supreme Court case is not expected to be heard till 2017.

The judgement will have no financial impact on Rangers because the tax liability remains with the in-liquidation oldco.

BDO have confirmed in it’s latest analysis of the liquidation that it still hopes to be in a position to provide an initial dividend to creditors later this year.

But that is dependent on the status of a legal claim over the payout pot.

The claim made by firms controlled by investment firm Worthington Group plc, launched a year ago meant that an interim £10 million payout to unsecured creditors for July, last year, had to be postponed.

BDO have confirmed that the claim on the whole of the creditors’ pot has now been retracted and will be replaced by a new claim of £3 million.

The liquidators say that they intend to be in a position to consider the dividend to creditors once an amended claim is confirmed.

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Worthington Group plc also has control of Sevco 5088, the firm fronted by former Rangers executive Charles Green to buy the the liquidated assets of Rangers in 2012. Worthington said in October, last year that it would stake a claim over Rangers business and assets.

Sevco 5088 was identified by administrators Duff and Phelps as being the newco that was “contractually obliged” to purchase the assets and business of operating company RFC 2012 plc out of administration.

BDO has warned that it was a “complex liquidation containing a number of key areas of investigation, each of which may have a significant impact on the ultimate outcome for creditors”.

It added: “Due to the significant issues to be resolved in the liquidation, the joint liquidators do not expect to be in a position to bring this case to a conclusion for some considerable time.”

Some £5.4 million of the legal costs bill were legal fees incurred over the settlement of a claim against London-based Collyer Bristow the solicitors involved in the takeover of the club by Craig Whyte in May, 2011. The liquidators banked £24 million for Rangers creditors.

BDO said the fees went to London-based legal firm Stephenson Harwood as “it had been necessary to instruct” the company on a ‘no win, no charge’ conditional fee arrangement basis.

The arrangement meant that Stephenson Harwood were entitled to their costs plus an extra 75 to 100 per cent to “compensate them for the risk that they would not get paid if the litigation failed”.