Football director held over tax charges

A multi-millionaire director of Glasgow Rangers football club has been arrested in South Africa on 11 charges of fraud involving non-payment of almost £60m in taxes.

Dave King, 44, a former Glasgow milk boy, invested £20m in the Ibrox club two years ago. The son of a policeman, who grew up in the Castlemilk district of the city, Mr King is a lifelong Rangers supporter and non-executive director of the club, despite being based in South Africa.

His business career took off there after he was transferred as an employee of the Weir engineering group. He first made his money with his company Specialised Outsourcing, now known as Enterprise Risk Management, in the late 1990s. He is said to have a personal fortune of more than £200m and stakes in at least 20 companies,

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) says he owes a total of £167m in unpaid taxes. Yesterday he appeared before magistrates in Randburg, near Johannesburg, where, after having his passport confiscated and assets seized, he was released on bail.

It is the latest development in Mr King's long-running battle with the SARS. He is refusing to pay and has accused tax officials of "extortion", although at a hearing in the High Court in Pretoria last week he did agree to pay £295,000, without conceding liability.

Sipho Ngwema, of the South African government's investigative agency, said: "Mr King handed himself over to the investigators yesterday and was arrested. He was charged and released on bail, but he is due back in court on 20 September."

After his earlier court appearance, Mr King admitted there was some merit to the SARS tax claim "on a lifestyle basis", but denied that the figure was so high. He said he was shocked at the sequestration order and said: "I've gone on record as saying, based on my experience with the receiver, it really amounts in my opinion to extortion." He also claimed that the assessment for 2.5bn rand was "just a big number to frighten you".

His multi-million-pound investment in Rangers two years ago allowed the manager at the time, Dick Advocaat, to rebuild his squad. Last year Mr King spent £1.8m to buy control of the South African football club AmaZulu.