Ticketus to pursue Craig Whyte for more than £17m after High Court ruling

Former Rangers owner Craig Whyte has lost a £17.7 million court case with Ticketus, the company has confirmed.

The London firm handed Whyte the sum as part of a ticket-purchase agreement struck in May 2011 and it was subsequently used in the Motherwell-born businessman’s deal to buy the Ibrox outfit.

But Whyte, 42, failed to disclose that he has been previously banned from serving as a director.

Now he has been ordered pay back the money to the ticket agency following a hearing at the High Court in London.

Ticketus say they would never have entered into the deal with Whyte whose own Rangers takeover remains the subject of a police inquiry had they known about his boardroom disqualification.

A BBC investigation revealed in November 2011 that Whyte was handed a seven-year ban from serving as a director in 2000.

A statement from Ticketus handed to Press Association Sport confirms the company will now seek to recover the cash owed to them by Whyte as well as their legal costs.