GAMECON
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: Jailed dealer guards site of £22m showcase stadium
A SECURITY firm run by a drug dealer have won a lucrative contract protecting Scotland’s biggest Commonwealth Games building project.
Crime clan member David Faulds is raking in a fortune in taxpayers’ cash as the boss of Gard Security.
His firm protect the site of what will be one of the Games’ flagship stadiums.
Fauld’s security firm guard the 2014 Games’ flagship National Indoor Arena and National Velodrome.
Work on the £22million complex – opposite Celtic Park in Glasgow’s East End – starts within months.
Rival security firm P&B Contracts Ltd – run by criminals Lewis “Scooby” Rodden and Jim Black – tried to take over the site in a failed turf war.
Their placards are still on the site’s perimeter fence beside Gard’s misspelled signs.
Gard won the contract despite Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill’s vow that rogue firms would not cash in on the Games.
Glasgow City Council say the total cost of investment for 2014 will be no more than £288million.
Most of the funding is being met by the Scottish Government.
Last night, a source said: “ This very lucrative contract has been handed to Gard Security on a plate.
“It makes a joke of the Government’s claims that security firms run by criminals won’t benefit.
Murder
“Faulds will be filling his pockets with taxpayers’ cash and laughing all the way to the bank.
“The site is huge and it’s likely to be a long-term contract.
“It’s boom time, just like always, for the Faulds family.
“They have ruled the Bridgeton area for at least two generations. So many of them have broken the law, they could have had their own courtroom.”
Mercedes-driving David Faulds, 59, was convicted of drug dealing at the High Court in Glasgow in 1986 and sentenced to 30 months in prison. Fauld’s convictions include car theft. Brother Robert, 58, co-director in another firm, also has a series of convictions, including 12 months for shoplifting in 1984.
He was charged with the murder of businessman Jeff Monk, who was shot in a botched robbery in 1990. The charges were later dropped. Two other men Fred Jones and David Collins, were convicted of the killing.
The Faulds’ previous security firm, Dart Security Ltd, went bust in October after HM Revenue and Customs took action at
Glasgow Sheriff Court over their debts. Both men were directors of Dart but only David is listed at Companies House as a director of Gard. They are both directors of East End Security Ltd.
They are licensed to run security firms by the Security Industry Authority.
Bosses granted it because their most recent convictions were 20 years ago.
The Faulds’ cousin is George Redmond, Labour councillor for Glasgow’s Calton area.
Last night, Redmond said: “I’m not involved in security but I know that there is transparency on the issue.
“We have an organisation to make sure security firms are regulated and licensed.”
A Sunday Mail investigator had earlier posed as a contractor and asked Redmond about Gard.
He said: “I wouldn’t vouch for any company. I know City Building use them, I’ve seen their signs up locally.”
Asked if he knew the Faulds, he said: “I could have met them, I don’t know. That’s what I’m saying to you.”
Glasgow City Council said: “It’s the responsibility of the contractor to secure the site.”
The site is being cleared for development by Perth-based firm I&H Brown, who declined to comment.
David Faulds denied he had a criminal record. He said: “These allegations are untrue – you have the wrong man.”
On track to rake in cash: David Faulds, left, runs Gard, whose misspelled signs are on display at the site, above. Rodden, top right, is boss of a rival firm who failed to muscle in