Scottish Premiership side Celtic's directors are "to meet with shareholders calling for action over the award of a licence to allow Rangers to play European football in 2011, despite tax issues," according to Martin Williams of the HERALD SCOTLAND. The board is to meet the group next week to discuss with shareholders "continuing concerns over UEFA's refusal to investigate the so-called Resolution 12 issue." Some believe the club should take the matter up with the Scottish FA which awarded the license. The Ibrox club was given a license to play in the Champions League five years ago despite "ongoing issues with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs over payment of tax" relating to its use of Employee Benefit Trusts. UEFA rules state clubs taking part in their competitions must declare any "overdue payables" to the taxman and reveal details on whether there is a commitment to repay amounts, or a dispute over any bill. Failure to disclose information during what is referred to as the "monitoring period," which is spread over two dates in June and September, "can result in sanctions." Some Celtic shareholders raised the matter at the club’s '13 AGM, "believing the club could have lost out on millions of potential revenue that would have been due to them had they entered the Champions League that year instead of Rangers who, the requisitioners believed, should not have been allowed to enter the competition." The letter from Andrea Traverso, head of club licensing and financial fair play, said "at the time the licence was granted, there was no reason for UEFA to 'suspect any irregularity committed either by Rangers FC or the licensor (SFA).'" Rangers Football Club plc, the former operating company, went into administration in Feb. '12, after a £9M PAYE and VAT debt was amassed to the taxman under Craig Whyte's leadership. The oldco renamed RFC 2012 plc is in liquidation. Traverso was told by the shareholders that the probe would be "in the interests of the game... if only to ensure that lessons are learned and to minimize the scope for similar episodes like this to occur in the future." Their concerns centered on "whether the Ibrox side under previous ownership fully disclosed the details of an unpaid £2.8M tax bill to taxman ahead of their participation in the Champions League five years ago." A newly launched petition signed by over 3,000 people demands that "the SFA respond to allegations that it acted inappropriately in awarding the European place to Rangers." The Scottish FA said that "Rangers did not have any overdue payables at the March 31 deadline set down for clubs to make successful applications for an endorsement for a UEFA club licence" (HERALD SCOTLAND, 11/17)
