A judge has rejected a bid made by Rangers chairman Dave King to stop a financial watchdog from bringing contempt of court proceedings against him.

Lady Wolffe ruled that one of her colleagues could decide on whether the businessman deliberately chose not to follow Court of Session order handed out last year.

A judge at the Edinburgh based tribunal ordered Mr King to make an £11m offer to the club's shareholders to buy shares from them in December 2017.

The action was brought by the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers.

The organisation took Mr King to court because it believed he did not comply with the terms of the 2006 Companies Act.

The legislation dictates that entrepreneurs who hold a 30 per cent stake in businesses are compelled to make an offer to investors to buy their shares.

However, he still hasn't made the offer prompting the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers to have Mr King found in contempt of court.

Lawyers for the South African resident argued that law stated the Panel needed to have the agreement of Scotland's most senior prosecutor, the Lord Advocate, before it could proceed.

Mr King's advocate Jonathan Mitchell QC stated that the organisation didn't have the Lord Advocate's agreement and that the action against their client should be stopped.

However, in a written judgement issued at the Court of Session, Lady Wolffe rejected the arguments made by the Rangers supremo.

She stated that the law dictates that the Lord Advocate's agreement is needed only in some cases.

She wrote: "I find that there is no merit in Mr Mitchell's argument. "

The case was originally brought to court over the actions of Mr King and the so called "three bears" - businessmen George Letham, George Taylor and Douglas Park - during their takeover of Rangers in late 2014.

Investigators for the panel concluded that the quartet acted in concert to acquire 30 per cent of the shares in the Glasgow side.

The money for the shares purchased by the four men came from offshore trusts which were in the name of Mr King's family.

Lawyers acting for Mr King said he didn't have the money needed to buy back shares at 20 pence per share.

Mr King's legal team argued that the shares were acquires from cash which came from his family's trusts.

The businessman claimed that he didn't have control over these trusts. He said that a company registered in the British Virgin Islands had control over some of the shares.

His lawyers argued that their client consequently didn't have the money needed to make the £11m offer for the remaining shares.

His then advocate Lord Davidson of Glen Clova said Mr King was "penniless".

However, Lord Bannatyne ruled that Mr King had control over the family trust and make the offer to buy the remaining shares.

In July 2018, lawyers acting for the Panel returned to the Court of Session and told Lord Bannatyne that Mr King hadn't complied with the order.

This prompted Lord Bannatyne to urge Mr King to comply with the order. Last month at the Court of Session, Mr Mitchell stated that the panel had to prove their case against Mr King beyond a "reasonable doubt."

He added: "It must be a wilful defiance of this court. It is not sufficient on the part of the petitioner to say to the court 'here is an order that hasn't been complied with.'

"He also urged Lady Wolffe to stop the contempt action. Lady Wolffe disagreed with Mr Mitchell's arguments.

She added: "I shall reserve meantime all questions of expenses."