Mystery deal with China raises fresh concerns
COUNCIL leaders have rejected a deal with a Chinese firm that has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Scottish Government.
Falkirk Council was asked to establish an agreement with the China Railway No 3 Engineering Group (CR3) late in 2015, but the authority said ‘their approach was not in an appropriate form we could progress and, to date, the matter has not been taken forward’.
The revelation prompted fresh calls for Nicola Sturgeon, who signed the memorandum (MOU) to ‘urgently spell out the details of what the Chinese consortium propose for Scottish projects’.
Labour has been pushing for the First Minister to publish all documents relating to the agreement after it emerged China Railway Group Limited (CRG), the owner of CR3, has been hit by corruption allegations in its homeland which resulted in Norway’s oil fund blacklisting the firm.
Falkirk Council – a Labour/Conservative/Independent coalition – confirmed it was approached by agents acting for both CR3 and SinoFortone, the two companies which signed the MOU with the Government before the Scottish Parliament was dissolved in March ahead of the forthcoming election.
Investment company SinoFortone has said the agreement could bring about infrastructure projects with a potential value of £10billion to Scotland in areas including clean energy, transport and affordable housing.
The Scottish Government is reported to have stepped in to broker talks between Falkirk Council and SinoFortone.
Labour public services spokesman Jackie Baillie said: ‘The more we learn about the secret deal the SNP signed with the Chinese consortium the more questions there are.
‘Falkirk Council said they knocked back a deal with this Chinese company because it wouldn’t create local jobs. The SNP now need to urgently spell out the details of what the Chinese consortium propose.’
Miss Sturgeon has insisted the MOU is to ‘explore options’ for investment, insisting there are ‘no actual proposals on the table’.
A Falkirk Council spokesman said that, when approached: ‘We provided general information on our local development plan as well as information relating to potential sites for investment and house building.
‘Subsequently, we were asked to establish an agreement with China Railway No 3. However, their approach was not in an appropriate form we could progress and, to date, the matter has not been taken forward. We have not heard anything further from SinoFortone.’
An SNP spokesman said the Government would ‘only enter into agreements which met procurement rules and which benefited the Scottish economy’.