Rangers FC have today confirmed that they are being investigated by Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs officers over an issue over a tax issue.

It is understood the issue relates to payments made to an offshore account.

The SPL Champions, who only lifted the title over the weekend with a 1-0 win at Hibernian, are currently still up for sale with debts of around £30m.

It is not thought this investigation has scuppered an approach to buy the club by businessman Andrew Ellis.

A Rangers club statement read:

“There is an ongoing query raised by HMRC which is part of a pending court case

“On the basis of expert tax advice provided to Rangers, the club is robustly defending the matters raised.

“It would, therefore, be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”

Rangers chairman Alastair Johnstone added: “It is not a new problem. It has been there for a long time, so this just hasn’t come up.

“This is more in the holding company of Murray’s. It has been one that the Murray Group has been taking care of and been involved in on a day-to-day basis in the past and I would continue to defer to them on that one.”

Jon Osterland