I’m sorry if it upset anyone but they knew the price were getting and could have walked away at any point
Property scandal politician says she wouldn’t cash in on desperate home sellers again
FORMER MP Michelle Thomson has apologised to home owners who claim they lost out in cut-price property deals.
Thomson broke her silence nearly two years after she was caught up in mortgage fraud allegations.
It followed an investigation into back-to-back property sales where homes are often bought below market value and sold on for large profit, sometimes that same day.
Last week, prosecutors finally confirmed there was an “absence of credible evidence” to support claims against her.
Thomson, who had always denied any wrongdoing, was forced to resign the SNP whip and lost her Edinburgh West seat in the June UK election.
In candid interviews yesterday, she demanded an apology from SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon for the way the party treated her during the career-destroying ordeal.
Thomson said back-to-back selling was commonplace after the financial crash. And she defended making profit from property sales at the time.
But asked if she now thinks the sales were morally acceptable, Thomson said: “Looking back now, to be honest, would I do that again? No, I definitely wouldn’t.
“It was seven years ago. At that point, I’d no idea that at some point in future I’d become involved in politics. I’d absolutely no idea.”
A couple involved in one of the property transactions told our sister paper the Sunday Mail they felt “stung”.
Christine and Billy Troy said they had sold their Paisley flat to Thomson for £37,500 and it had been sold on for £55,000. Christine, 62, said: “I’m not happy about the whole thing. I feel she preyed on vulnerable people. We were having trouble selling – that’s why we sold to them. I wish now we hadn’t.
“I believe she should have had some form of consequence.” Thomson was one of five people named in a report sent to prosecutors last December following a police investigation.
She was linked to deals involving Christopher Hales, a solicitor who was struck off for professional misconduct involving transactions in 2010 and 2011.
Thomson says she was not aware he’d had been struck off until it emerged in the press in 2015.
In an interview yesterday, Thomson was asked if back-to-back deals contradicted SNP views on “vulnerable people”.
Thomson said: “If anyone felt aggrieved or upset, then I absolutely did not want that to happen and I absolutely, fulsomely apologise to them if they felt that was the case.
“But this idea about ‘vulnerable people’ would suggest they had no idea what price they were accepting for their house. All the way the way through, there were lots of steps my business partner gave them to say, ‘Look, do you understand this.’ They could have walked away at any point.”
Thomson said she felt “compelled” to get involved in politics after hearing tales of social deprivation during the independence referendum campaign.
She added: “I’d been living quite a privileged life without realising it for quite a few years. I was a bit ashamed because I didn’t come from a family with a great deal of money.”
Thomson said she remains “loyal”
Looking back, would I do it again? No, I definitely could not THOMSON
to the party but is clearly upset at the way she was treated.
She received “no support” and has not had any chance to put her side to First Minister Sturgeon.
Thomson said an apology should come from the top.
She added: “I would say the leader of the party – certainly somebody very senior. Yes, I would greatly welcome that.”
Thomson added her voice to a growing internal SNP row about the impact of Sturgeon’s marriage to the party’s chief executive Peter Murrell.
Thomson said: “In principle, I believe it’s a problem.
“In principle, from a corporate governance point of view, there is no other organisation where you have the leader married to the chief executive.”
A Scottish Labour spokesman said they’d already questioned the morality of Thomson’s past business dealings.
The spokesman added: “She may have been cleared of any legal wrongdoing, but these business practices shocked many Scots.
“Nicola Sturgeon has never said if she supports this kind of business activity or believes it to be morally wrong and she needs to answer that question.”
A SNP spokesman said: “Michelle Thomson stepped down in 2015 until the investigation was concluded.
“She took a dignified approach while the investigation was under way. We will be happy to engage with her about her membership of the SNP.”