The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Yousaf in row over £250,000 Gaza cash
First Minister overruled official advice on funding while family was stuck in war zone
HUMZA YOUSAF has been accused of a conflict of interest after overriding officials to give £250,000 to a Gaza aid agency while his family was trapped in the warzone.
Scotland’s First Minister stepped in after officials recommended a £100,000£200,000 donation to Unicef, the United Nations agency which provides humanitarian aid to children, to fund water programmes in Gaza.
He overruled their advice, declaring that £250,000 of taxpayers’ money should instead be given to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the biggest international aid agency operating in Gaza, which has been criticised over alleged links to Hamas.
Mr Yousaf told officials that since he was about to meet with UNRWA, “we should just announce an extra £250k to them”.
The Scottish Government’s £250,000 donation was publicly announced on Nov 2, the same day that Mr Yousaf met a delegation of senior UNRWA officials in Edinburgh. His mother-in-law and father-in-law were given safe passage out of Gaza via the Rafah crossing the next day, on Nov 3.
The First Minister denied yesterday that the donation was in any way connected to the release of his family.
A spokesman for Mr Yousaf said: “UNRWA had no role in the situation regarding the First Minister’s extended family and any suggestion of a conflict of interest in this matter would be completely untrue.”
However, he is facing accusations that his interference in the allocation of aid process amounted to a conflict of interest, and questions over whether his actions breached the ministerial code.
A senior MSP who sits on Holyrood’s standards and procedures committee said that if Mr Yousaf was unable to give a satisfactory explanation for his actions he should face an inquiry.
The Telegraph understands that a report has been made to the Metropolitan Police’s anti-terrorism hotline, and a submission is being prepared to send to Audit Scotland, the independent body that oversees how public money is spent in Scotland.
Stephen Kerr, a Conservative MSP who sits on Scotland’s standards, procedures and public appointments committee, said: “The First Minister has some serious explaining to do starting with why he overrode officials to take money away from the vital Unicef water programme and assign it to UNRWA. It looks as if the money was not budgeted and that the First Minister was prepared to bend the rules and not follow procedure.
“Humza Yousaf has a clear conflict of interest in the awarding of aid to Gaza. Clearly the fact that so many members of his family are either living in Gaza or are involved with Palestinian organisations raises significant questions about what his motivation is for using taxpayers’ money in the area.”
Mr Yousaf ’s in-laws travelled to Gaza in early October to visit relatives but became stranded when the war broke out. Border crossings in and out of Gaza were shut after Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel on Oct 7,
murdering some 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages.
The Scottish Ministerial Code states that ministers “must ensure that no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their public duties and their private interests, financial or otherwise”.
Mr Kerr went on to say that the First Minister “may very well have broken the code by failing to recuse himself when he has family connections to Gaza and Palestinian organisations here in Scotland”.
He added: “If he cannot give a satisfactory answer to questions about the decision-making behind this payment by the Scottish Government, then Parliament must set up an independent investigation into this matter.”
Towards the end of November last year, reports began to emerge in Israeli media that a hostage had been held captive in the house of an UNRWA employee where he was locked in the attic. By the end of January, Britain, the United States and several other countries suspended their funding to UNRWA after 12 of its workers were sacked following accusations from Israel that they participated in the Oct 7 attacks. The UN has launched its own inquiry into the claims which is ongoing.
In total, since the Oct 7 massacre the Scottish Government has given £750,000 to UNRWA. The first donation of £500,000 from the Scottish Government to UNRWA was announced on Oct 14, following an “urgent” internal submission, official documents show.
Ten days later, a new “urgent” commission came from the First Minister, this time for “funds/supplies for water supplies to a charity or aid organisation” in Gaza.
Official advice, provided by the minister for culture, Europe and international development, as well as the Cabinet secretary for constitution, external affairs & culture, stated that giving £100,000-£200,000 to Unicef was the “preferred option”.
This advice was sent to the First Minister, who was also told that there were no available funds for general humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Internal correspondence shows that Mr Yousaf was told by officials: “We have considered various options to provide humanitarian support for civilians in Gaza, including access to wider SG
‘If he cannot give a satisfactory answer to questions about the decisionmaking behind this payment, then Parliament must set up an independent investigation into this matter’
[Scottish Government] budgets but this is not currently available to us.”
In the same email, it was noted that Mr Yousaf had a meeting with UNRWA coming up but made clear that the advice on funding Unicef still stood.
However, three days after receiving the advice, on Oct 30, Mr Yousaf wrote in an email: “If I am meeting UNRWA this week we should just announce an extra £250k to them, taking our total to £750k. It will need to be a budget pressure we carry forward.” The following day, a new piece of advice was issued “in line with the First Minister’s suggestion” that the donation should be increased to £250,000 and sent to UNRWA instead of Unicef and that this “does not cause us any difficulties”.
On Nov 1, Mr Yousaf ’s private secretary wrote to the minister for culture, Europe & international development, thanking them for allowing the £250,000 donation of “unrestricted funds” to UNRWA.
The documents were obtained by Glasgow resident Craig Houston, following a Freedom of Information request, who discussed them on his YouTube channel “Craig Houston Talks To”.
Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservawhich tive leader, said Mr Yousaf had “questions to answer” over why he “went against official advice and chose to give public money to UNRWA rather than Unicef ”. He added: “It’s important the First Minister is fully transparent, especially given it appears that a Scottish Government fund ringfenced for other charities was raided for this donation, and the allegations that have since emerged about UNRWA workers.”
A spokesman for the First Minister said there was a “rigorous process to ensure complete transparency and accountability” in the allocation of money from the International Development Fund. He said that while the fund “primarily” supports projects in partner countries, funding has been made available to address “urgent humanitarian needs” in several other countries in recent years. The spokesman said: “UNRWA had no role in the situation regarding the First Minister’s extended family and any suggestion of a conflict of interest in this matter would be completely untrue. The record shows the First Minister’s actions were consistent with his obligations towards openness and honesty in the Scottish Ministerial Code.
“The decision not to restrict funding to water supplies was based on advice from officials, following discussions with UNRWA, Unicef and the British Red Cross.”
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said they cannot comment on cases reported to its anti-terror hotline for security reasons but added: “All reports get reviewed by officers and if it is assessed that further police action is required, then it will get passed to the relevant police force, or counter terrorism unit to carry this out.”
UNRWA was approached for comment.