SNP may be sued after claim ferry deal ‘rigged’
THE SNP Government is facing the threat of legal action following claims the contract at the centre of the ferries fiasco was rigged.
A Polish shipbuilding firm that lost out on the £97million CalMac contract is considering court action after its lawyers said the decision to award the deal to Ferguson’s shipyard on the Clyde ‘might have been fraught with irregularities’.
Remontowa, which previously built three CalMac ferries, believes it may have been the victim of bias in the procurement process.
It follows revelations in a BBC Disclosure documentary that, during the bidding process for the two-ferry contract, Ferguson Marine Engineering Limited (FMEL) was given sight of a 424-page document from a design consultant setting out technical requirements, while rival bidders had to rely on a more limited 125-page specification.
Concerns were also raised that most of FMEL’s bid appeared to have been copied and pasted from a CalMac document that FMEL should never have had – and that no other bidder had access to.
The documentary found that the Clyde yard was allowed to significantly change its design halfway through the tender process, reducing its price by nearly £10million and making it more competitive.
The Ferguson yard was owned at the time by billionaire Jim McColl, a member of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s Council of Economic Advisers and a prominent independence supporter.
A spokesman for Gdansk-based Remontowa told The Scottish Mail on Sunday: ‘We are investigating the matter. Our legal team realises the tender might have been fraught with irregularities.
‘Much depends on whether the irregularities made public are confirmed. Our lawyers are analysing the situation to consider possible formal steps but no binding decisions have yet been taken.
‘This is a very serious matter – and so will be the decision that must be taken at the highest level in our group.’
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, who has called for a police probe into the latest claims, warned that if they are upheld, ‘a legal challenge like this could even render the contract ineffective’.
He added: ‘The stench of corruption surrounding this SNP deal grows ever stronger and we still don’t have any ferries that float.’
Last week at Holyrood, Miss Sturgeon said she had not seen any evidence of criminality.
‘Fraught with irregularities’