CRAIG Whyte did not spend “a single penny” of his own when he took over Rangers FC in 2011, the High Court in Glasgow was told yesterday, and instead he used “money he was not entitled to”.

Summing up the prosecution case, advocate depute Alex Prentice QC asked the jury of eight men and seven women to convict Whyte on two charges, one of fraud and the second a breach of the Companies Act.

The Crown alleges that before his takeover of Rangers in 2011, Whyte pretended to then club owner Sir David Murray and others, that funds were available to make all required payments to acquire a “controlling and majority stake” in the club.

The court has heard the sale of the club was eventually made to Whyte for £1 but came with obligations to pay an £18 million bank debt, a £2.8m “small tax case” bill, £1.7m for stadium repairs, £5m for players and £5m in working capital.

Evidence has been led that Whyte used money from the Ticketus lending company secured against future season ticket sales.

The second charge under the Companies Act concerns the £18m payment between Whyte’s Wavetower company and Rangers to clear a bank debt.

Prentice told the Court that the accused, and his Wavetower company, did not have authority over the funds used in the takeover, which amounted to £1m from finance company Merchant Turnaround, around £3m from the Jerome Group pension fund and £24m from lending firm Ticketus.

The advocate depute said: “A fraud involves a false pretence, dishonesty made, in order to bring about some definite practical result. “Mr Whyte made dishonest representations to Murray (Group) that he had the funds to complete the transaction as at May 6.

“The Crown says Mr Whyte bought Rangers Football Club without a single penny of his own, but with money he was not entitled to.”

Prentice added that Whyte took “active steps” to ensure the Ticketus deal was not revealed to Murray and the accused gave the impression the funds were coming from himself.

The advocate depute said evidence from Sir David Murray and Murray Group employees showed they would not have approved the sale of Rangers, which went into administration eight months after Whyte acquired the club, if they had been aware of the Ticketus funding.

He added: “If Murray had known the true position it would not have sold the shares, and you have evidence of that. That is the fraud.

“If we accept the evidence, we can accept Mr Whyte knew this was never going to run and took steps to conceal it.”

The prosecution lawyer said the trial was not a public inquiry into the corporate governance of Rangers and there was an “incomplete picture” to complete such a task.

He said there was “no doubt there were troubling times for the club” but that it was working within its limits.

On the second charge, the advocate depute said it was an offence under the Companies Act for the resources of a company to be used in its acquisition.

Summing up, he said: “The money used to pay the bank debt was Ticketus money, which became the club’s money.

“He then arranged a loan to Wavetower to pay the debt.

“That, ladies and gentlemen, amounts to financial assistance.”

Mr Prentice said the case was “relatively simple” and “false representation induced Murray to do something it otherwise would not have done”.

The trial before Lady Stacey continues today when defence QC Donald Findlay will make his closing submission with the judge due to address the jury on Monday after which they will retire to consider their verdict.