THE Rangers administrator who won £12 million in damages and legal expenses from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has “no confidence whatsoever” that allegations he is making about criminal conduct on the part of prosecutors will be properly investigated.

The Sunday National and The National revealed last month that David Whitehouse and his fellow Rangers administrator had been paid £24m in damages and legal expenses for the admitted malicious prosecution of the two men by the Crown Office.

Yesterday in the Court of Session in a virtual hearing before Lord Tyre, Gerry Moynihan QC, acting for the Crown Office, said that Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC would give “due consideration” to allegations of criminal activity arising from the civil case and that an external independent QC would become involved if such an investigation went ahead.

Moynihan told the court that his own team’s investigations had found no evidence of criminal conduct. He said: “What I have been instructed to make clear is that the investigations undertaken for the purposes of these actions that were under the direction of the Lord Advocate, and carried out by a team led by me, have to date disclosed no criminal conduct.”

He added that the Lord Advocate would have “in principle no objection to Whitehouse making any allegations of criminal or disciplinary misconduct as he sees fit” but pointed out that the civil actions had been settled on the basis that there was no suspicion of criminal activity by those involved.

Moynihan was replying to Whitehouse’s lawyer, Roddy Dunlop QC, who told Lord Tyre his client had information concerning prosecutors that he wanted to put before an investigation. He said that “many commentators” on the case in the press and legal articles had said that it was “unimaginable in modern-day Scotland that we could we have a prosecution that was both without probable cause and malicious and yet that is exactly what we have here”.

He added that “Whitehouse wants to know why that happened” and wanted to “participate fully” in any such investigation.

Whitehouse and Clark have been paid their £24m, and The National has revealed that their employers at the time, insolvency experts Duff & Phelps, are to mount a legal action against the Crown Office for damage to their reputation with one inside source claiming that damages will amount to “tens of millions”.

Another administrator David Grier and former club chief executive Charles Green and director Imran Ahmad were also prosecuted and will receive damages in due course.

Whitehouse intimated after yesterday’s court hearing that he had “no confidence” in any inquiry. Jack Irvine, spokesman for Whitehouse, said: “David had to fight for four long years to get to the truth, in the face of bitter opposition. We are in no doubt that there are serious questions to be answered.

“The Lord Advocate’s senior counsel Gerry Moynihan QC, said today that his team’s review of evidence revealed no criminal conduct. We would point out that same team insisted for four long years that there was nothing whatsoever wrong with the prosecution, only to dramatically change position at the last minute.

“The fact that Moynihan’s statement was made today, before the conclusion of the court process and the submission of a formal complaint, gives us no confidence whatsoever that Crown Office will investigate our concerns comprehensively, fairly and objectively.”