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Just seen this via indyrs, posted by fans spokesman Paul Finney
Have not seen or spoke to Bill since after the other court case when he came out for a drink with Me, Dave Morris and a few others.
Did not even know what this was all about.
Town success in Power's High Court bid
4:22pm Friday 1st May 2009
FORMER Swindon Town investor Bill Power has suffered a setback in his High Court battle to retrieve more than £1million he ploughed into the club three years ago.
A judge ruled that, when Power and business partner Phil Emmel put the cash into holding company, Swindon Town F.C. Ltd in 2006, it was "a loan", not "an investment" as the club claimed.
However, Judge Gavin Kealey QC refused to make the club itself liable to repay the money and, as the holding company is now in administration, the ruling means Power and Emmel will have to wait in line with other creditors.
The judge rejected the pair's plea that the club would be "unjustly enriched" if it was not held liable for the debts of the holding company, which sold its controlling interest in the club last year and was put into administration in March 2008.
Swindon Town's new shareholders have, said Judge Kealey, made "significant financial resources available" to the club which has, in the past, suffered serious financial woes - despite £14 milion worth of support from Sir Seton Wills and his family over the years.
Judge Kealey said that, from February 2002 onwards, the club was in a Company Voluntary Arrangement and was "balance sheet insolvent". It narrowly avoided a winding up petition in 2004 and, for many years, depended on the generosity of the Wills family to survive.
The holding company was incorporated in 2003, with Sir Seton's son, James Wills, holding 66.6% of the shares, but the club's serious financial difficultes continued. By early 2006, the club had no substantial assets, it did not even own its own ground, and it had immediate debts of between £900,000 to £1 million, including in respect of PAYE and VAT.
By that stage, the judge added, "the Wills family had made it clear that it was not prepared to contribute any more".
Power and Emmel, who were shareholders in Queen's Park Rangers, were contacted "as a potential source of much-needed investment" through former QPR chief executive, Mark Devlin, who by then worked for Swindon Town.
The pair agreed to part with £1 million, in two equal tranches, and Judge Kealey rejected Swindon Town's arguments that the money was an "investment", rather than a returnable "loan".
However, the judge handed victory to the club when he also ruled: "I am of the clear view that the loan agreements which, of necessity, are to be implied, were, objectively analysed, with Holdings and not with the club."
Power and Emmel had also argued that the club should itself be held liable to repay their money as, otherwise, it would be "unjustly enriched".
But the judge concluded: "It seems to me, however, that any restitutionary claim against the club in respect of both payments should fail.
"The result is that, for the reasons which I have given, Mr Power's and Mr Emmel's claim ... against the club fails".
Power and Devlin were both seriously injured in August 2006 when a private aeroplane crashed as it was flying them back from a Swindon away match at Hartlepool. Mr Power was in hospital, or being cared for at home, for six months under constant medical care.
Mr Devlin's injuries prevented him from returning to the club until November 2006 "whereupon his employment was suspended, eventually being brought to an end in February of the following year", said Judge Kealey.
After hearing numerous witnesses from all sides in the case, which stretched over six days at the High Court, the judge said all of them had done their "honest best to assist the court and to give a truthful account of the facts
Have not seen or spoke to Bill since after the other court case when he came out for a drink with Me, Dave Morris and a few others.
Did not even know what this was all about.
Town success in Power's High Court bid
4:22pm Friday 1st May 2009
FORMER Swindon Town investor Bill Power has suffered a setback in his High Court battle to retrieve more than £1million he ploughed into the club three years ago.
A judge ruled that, when Power and business partner Phil Emmel put the cash into holding company, Swindon Town F.C. Ltd in 2006, it was "a loan", not "an investment" as the club claimed.
However, Judge Gavin Kealey QC refused to make the club itself liable to repay the money and, as the holding company is now in administration, the ruling means Power and Emmel will have to wait in line with other creditors.
The judge rejected the pair's plea that the club would be "unjustly enriched" if it was not held liable for the debts of the holding company, which sold its controlling interest in the club last year and was put into administration in March 2008.
Swindon Town's new shareholders have, said Judge Kealey, made "significant financial resources available" to the club which has, in the past, suffered serious financial woes - despite £14 milion worth of support from Sir Seton Wills and his family over the years.
Judge Kealey said that, from February 2002 onwards, the club was in a Company Voluntary Arrangement and was "balance sheet insolvent". It narrowly avoided a winding up petition in 2004 and, for many years, depended on the generosity of the Wills family to survive.
The holding company was incorporated in 2003, with Sir Seton's son, James Wills, holding 66.6% of the shares, but the club's serious financial difficultes continued. By early 2006, the club had no substantial assets, it did not even own its own ground, and it had immediate debts of between £900,000 to £1 million, including in respect of PAYE and VAT.
By that stage, the judge added, "the Wills family had made it clear that it was not prepared to contribute any more".
Power and Emmel, who were shareholders in Queen's Park Rangers, were contacted "as a potential source of much-needed investment" through former QPR chief executive, Mark Devlin, who by then worked for Swindon Town.
The pair agreed to part with £1 million, in two equal tranches, and Judge Kealey rejected Swindon Town's arguments that the money was an "investment", rather than a returnable "loan".
However, the judge handed victory to the club when he also ruled: "I am of the clear view that the loan agreements which, of necessity, are to be implied, were, objectively analysed, with Holdings and not with the club."
Power and Emmel had also argued that the club should itself be held liable to repay their money as, otherwise, it would be "unjustly enriched".
But the judge concluded: "It seems to me, however, that any restitutionary claim against the club in respect of both payments should fail.
"The result is that, for the reasons which I have given, Mr Power's and Mr Emmel's claim ... against the club fails".
Power and Devlin were both seriously injured in August 2006 when a private aeroplane crashed as it was flying them back from a Swindon away match at Hartlepool. Mr Power was in hospital, or being cared for at home, for six months under constant medical care.
Mr Devlin's injuries prevented him from returning to the club until November 2006 "whereupon his employment was suspended, eventually being brought to an end in February of the following year", said Judge Kealey.
After hearing numerous witnesses from all sides in the case, which stretched over six days at the High Court, the judge said all of them had done their "honest best to assist the court and to give a truthful account of the facts
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