Watchdog chief ‘was too busy’ to see to police cash scandal
THE former boss of Scotland’s police watchdog said yesterday that he did not respond to a whistleblower alleging a financial scandal because he was ‘very busy’ and had just come back from holiday.
John Foley, ex-chief executive of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), said he was away when finance official Amy McDonald emailed him about house move expenses for a senior police officer.
It has emerged already that former Deputy Chief Constable Rose Fitzpatrick was paid £67,000 by bank transfer to help her move house, a decision that sparked a political row.
Mrs McDonald, 44, who has launched a tribunal against the SPA claiming she was marginalised after whistleblowing, sent an email to Mr Foley in January 2017, but he said he only found about it from a colleague when he got back from holiday. Mr Foley, who earned up to £120,000 a year, said: ‘I never responded to Amy in relation to that. I may have said to [SPA official] John McCroskie to speak to Amy. I had additional information which Amy could not have had in her possession.’
He said he had the extra information because he had been involved in approving Mrs Fitzpatrick’s payments, and did not respond to Mrs McDonald because ‘it was a very busy environment, I had just returned from holidays’.
Mr Foley, who took early retirement last year after another watchdog criticised his ‘shortcomings’, said he could understand why Mrs McDonald felt ‘sidelined’ as there had been a diminution in her duties – not because she was a whistleblower.
The tribunal in Glasgow has heard that financial accountability officer Mrs McDonald revealed details of a series of extraordinary deals worth hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money. The experienced chartered accountant said she had uncovered massive payoffs for senior executives – and claimed she was ignored after blowing the whistle on ‘significant wrong-doing’.
Mrs McDonald has previously told the tribunal she was sidelined within the SPA and frozen out of key meetings after raising concerns about finances.
Earlier, the tribunal heard from SPA board member Grant Macrae, who was concerned that Mrs McDonald’s decision to name individuals involved in the payouts may have breached their privacy. He said: ‘We were not looking at the individual circumstances of any of these payments’.
The tribunal continues.
‘I had information she did not have’