A senior judge has been giving evidence in the £7m damages case brought by business expert David Grier over his prosecution in the Rangers fraud probe.
Lord Mulholland, who is now a High Court judge, was the head of Scotland’s prosecution service at the time Mr Grier was charged in 2014.
The former lord advocate denied having his “hand on the tiller” of the doomed Rangers investigation.
He said other Crown lawyers made the key decisions in the investigation.
At the Court of Session, Lord Mulholland told lawyers that his role as lord advocate was limited to providing colleagues with advice and asking the Scottish government for more money for the inquiry.
The legal actions stems from a police probe surrounding Rangers’ financial position during and after the sale of the club to businessman Craig Whyte in 2011.
Mr Grier was one of a number of men arrested during the investigation but subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing.
The Crown Office has already admitted that two other Duff & Phelps employees, David Whitehouse and Paul Clark, were subjected to “malicious” prosecutions over their role in events at Rangers.
They have received damages from the Crown Office of £10.5m each and £3m in legal expenses.
The Crown has also admitted that there was a malicious prosecution against Charles Green, who led a consortium which took over Rangers in 2012.
Day to day involvement
On Friday, Lord Mulholland told lawyers that Jim Keegan QC was appointed as the prosecutor in charge of the investigation in October 2014.
Lord Mulholland added: “I didn’t have day to day involvement in it but I was available.”
Mr Grier’s lawyer Andrew Smith QC made reference to a comment made by a fellow judge Lord Malcolm who had heard evidence about the probe in an earlier case.
The judge had been told by lawyers acting for current Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC that Lord Mulholland had his hands “on the tiller” throughout the investigation.
Lord Mulholland said: “It’s not a phrase I would use. The direction of the prosecution was run by Jim Keegan and by the prosecution team. I had an advisory role.”
The hearing, before judge Lord Tyre, continues on Tuesday.