£475k of your money handed out in hush deal
‘The public will be rightly sceptical’
A PRIVATE company was handed nearly £500,000 of taxpayers’ cash in a secret deal – with officials refusing to release details of the firm.
The business has been allowed to remain anonymous as part of a deal with Scottish Enterprise in which officials signed a confidentiality agreement.
Critics described the disclosures as ‘utterly unacceptable’ and demanded that the Scottish Government quango release details of the transaction.
Scottish Enterprise has refused to name the firm, but has confirmed £475,989 has been given to the unnamed company in grants.
According to the agency, details of the firm cannot be released as it could ‘prejudice the company’s commercial investments’.
The deal has been disclosed as the Scottish Daily Mail continues to expose a culture of secrecy within public bodies and authorities across Scotland.
Scottish Conservative enterprise spokesman Dean Lockhart said: ‘This is utterly unacceptable.
‘Scottish Enterprise cannot hide six-figure grants behind a veil of secrecy – it should be transparent about all funding decisions so they are open to public scrutiny.
‘Firms should not be getting tax- payers’ money on the condition of a confidentiality agreement.
‘If Scottish Enterprise don’t provide transparency, taxpayers will have every right to suspect they have something to hide.’
The company was handed the £475,989 between 2015 and 2017, according to a Freedom of Information request obtained by the Sunday Mail. It received £65,000 in 2015, £161,027 in 2016 and £249,962 last year.
Scottish Labour economy spokesman Jackie Baillie said: ‘This is an extraordinary admisRennie sion. This is public money and there has to be the highest standard of openness and transparency.’
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie said: ‘The public will be rightly sceptical that there can ever be a good reason for keeping the recipient of almost half a million pounds of taxpayers’ money hidden.’
Scottish Enterprise handed out £359,529,482 in grants between 2014 and last year.
An additional £183,653,356 was given out in loans.
A Scottish Enterprise spokesman said: ‘Our normal processes will always ensure public funding generates best value for money.
‘We aim to be fully transparent with our financial information and we routinely publish the grants we provide to companies. There are rare and exceptional cases where, for legal and technical reasons, we are not able to provide full disclosure.
‘We appreciate the anxiety that non-disclosure can cause and we’ll reflect on this in our decisionmaking process going forward.’
It has also been disclosed that chemical multinational Ineos has received grants totalling £14.1million between 2014 and 2017.
Other firms to be given funds include Amazon, distiller Whyte & Mackay and Pendulum Apparel , a lingerie firm set up by Michelle Mone’s ex-husband Michael.
Last month the Scottish Daily Mail today launched a major campaign exposing the culture of secrecy dominating every area of public life – bankrolled by the taxpayer.
Our wide-ranging investigation came after it emerged that Scottish Government special advisers had interfered with requests for politically sensitive information.
But the rapid spread of ‘secret Scotland’ has seen quangos, local authorities and other bodies attempt to suppress or distort material that should be freely available.
An army of well-paid special advisers and press officers has been at the forefront of costly spin operations – financed by public cash – aimed at keeping taxpayers in the dark.