Post by QPR Report on Mar 19, 2009 13:28:08 GMT
Guess this was around the time of their ABC Loan.
Derby Evening Telegraph
Derby County's financial problems in 2003 are laid bare in court
DETAILS of the shaky financial state of Derby County when it was taken over in October 2003 have been revealed in court.
A jury heard yesterday how the club had, at the time, owed the taxman about £2.5m.
And finance manager Heather Gorham accepted that, at the time of the takeover, the club had been "fobbing off creditors" for years.
Mrs Gorham was giving evidence at a trial in which three men – ex-chief executive Jeremy Keith, former finance director Andrew Mackenzie and ex-director of football Murdo Mackay – are accused of illegally receiving a total payment of £375,000 plus VAT.
This was allegedly in return for securing a £15m loan which saved the club from receivership.
Northampton Crown Court had previously heard that the club was more than £37m in debt at that time.
Mrs Gorham, who still works for Derby County and was the club's finance manager at the time of the takeover, was asked about its debts before and after it was taken over by ex-chairman John Sleightholme, another director Steven Harding, and Keith on October 20, 2003.
David Howker QC, representing Mackenzie, asked whether the loan had saved taxpayers £2.5m as the club may otherwise have collapsed before its VAT and National Insurance arrears were cleared.
As finance director Mackenzie had been Mrs Gorham's boss.
Mr Howker said: "If the takeover had not happened the public would have been £2.5m worse off, in simple terms?"
Mrs Gorham replied: "I would think so".
Earlier, Richard Sutton QC, prosecuting, had asked Mrs Gorham how the club had dealt with invoices in the period from the end of 2003 into 2004.
She said: "We had a shortage of cash for quite a period. It continued even after the take-over. We basically dealt with it by delaying payments to creditors."
Mr Sutton asked if the creditors were informed the payments would be delayed.
She said: "Not really. We just tried to make excuses when they phoned up asking for money."
Mr Howker later referred to her answer again, saying: "The fact that you had been fobbing off creditors was precisely what you had been doing for years.
"You didn't want to make payments on the date they were due because that would increase your overdraft and therefore the balance you had to pay."
Keith, 44, of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, Mackenzie, 54, of Burton Road, Derby, and Mackay, 53, of Alicante, are charged with conspiracy to defraud and concealing criminal property.
Accountant Mark Waters, 48, of Bromley, Kent, is charged with concealing criminal property and false accounting.
Solicitor David Lowe, 58, of Monaco, is facing a money laundering charge, having allegedly moved some of the cash into an American bank.
All deny the charges.
The trial continues.
www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/news/Derby-County-s-financial-problems-2003-laid-bare-court/article-781105-detail/article.html
Derby Evening Telegraph
Derby County's financial problems in 2003 are laid bare in court
DETAILS of the shaky financial state of Derby County when it was taken over in October 2003 have been revealed in court.
A jury heard yesterday how the club had, at the time, owed the taxman about £2.5m.
And finance manager Heather Gorham accepted that, at the time of the takeover, the club had been "fobbing off creditors" for years.
Mrs Gorham was giving evidence at a trial in which three men – ex-chief executive Jeremy Keith, former finance director Andrew Mackenzie and ex-director of football Murdo Mackay – are accused of illegally receiving a total payment of £375,000 plus VAT.
This was allegedly in return for securing a £15m loan which saved the club from receivership.
Northampton Crown Court had previously heard that the club was more than £37m in debt at that time.
Mrs Gorham, who still works for Derby County and was the club's finance manager at the time of the takeover, was asked about its debts before and after it was taken over by ex-chairman John Sleightholme, another director Steven Harding, and Keith on October 20, 2003.
David Howker QC, representing Mackenzie, asked whether the loan had saved taxpayers £2.5m as the club may otherwise have collapsed before its VAT and National Insurance arrears were cleared.
As finance director Mackenzie had been Mrs Gorham's boss.
Mr Howker said: "If the takeover had not happened the public would have been £2.5m worse off, in simple terms?"
Mrs Gorham replied: "I would think so".
Earlier, Richard Sutton QC, prosecuting, had asked Mrs Gorham how the club had dealt with invoices in the period from the end of 2003 into 2004.
She said: "We had a shortage of cash for quite a period. It continued even after the take-over. We basically dealt with it by delaying payments to creditors."
Mr Sutton asked if the creditors were informed the payments would be delayed.
She said: "Not really. We just tried to make excuses when they phoned up asking for money."
Mr Howker later referred to her answer again, saying: "The fact that you had been fobbing off creditors was precisely what you had been doing for years.
"You didn't want to make payments on the date they were due because that would increase your overdraft and therefore the balance you had to pay."
Keith, 44, of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, Mackenzie, 54, of Burton Road, Derby, and Mackay, 53, of Alicante, are charged with conspiracy to defraud and concealing criminal property.
Accountant Mark Waters, 48, of Bromley, Kent, is charged with concealing criminal property and false accounting.
Solicitor David Lowe, 58, of Monaco, is facing a money laundering charge, having allegedly moved some of the cash into an American bank.
All deny the charges.
The trial continues.
www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/news/Derby-County-s-financial-problems-2003-laid-bare-court/article-781105-detail/article.html