Environment quango chief quits amid misconduct claims
THE boss of Scotland’s beleaguered environment watchdog has quit amid misconduct allegations.
Terry A’Hearn walked away from his £130,000-a-year role as chief executive of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) earlier this week.
A spokesman last night refused to confirm the nature of the claims but insisted the organisation had a clear code of conduct.
Chairman Bob Downes said Sepa took all allegations relating to staff misconduct ‘very seriously’. He said any claims would be kept private to protect the accuser’s anonymity.
Mr A’Hearn cleared his desk on
Wednesday, without working a three-month notice period and losing out on a financial settlement.
His departure comes ahead of the publication of a report into a costly cyber attack on Sepa in 2020.
The hackers, linked to Russia, stole more than 4,000 digital files and held Sepa to ransom, threatening to publish the data online. The operation to restore Sepa’s IT system cost almost £800,000.
Announcing Mr A’Hearn’s departure, Mr Downes said yesterday: ‘Following conduct allegations, Terry A’Hearn has stepped down and left his position.
‘Sepa has a clear code of conduct and takes conduct allegations very seriously indeed. In order to protect anonymity, Sepa is unable to comment further.’
Mr A’Hearn, who has also worked for environmental bodies in Ireland and Australia, took up his Sepa post in 2015. A police investigation into the cyber attack concluded it likely an international organised crime group was responsible.
Sepa did not respond to the ransom request.
A report by the Scottish Business Resilience Centre found the attack ‘displayed significant stealth and malicious sophistication’.
Sepa commissioned several independent audits of the incident, including from business advisory group Azets.
The Azets review found Sepa’s response had been ‘effective’.
But an Information Commissioner’s Office spokesman said Sepa failed to put ‘appropriate technical and organisational measures in place to prevent such an incident’.
Last year Mr A’Hearn said of the cyber attack: ‘A number of learnings have been identified. All have been accepted.’
Sepa’s performance and innovation chief officer Jo Green will be acting chief executive until a replacement is appointed.
‘Stepped down and left his position’