Questions over £350k police body payments

An employment tribunal heard yesterday how a former chief executive of Scotland’s police watchdog signed off on a £165,000 “golden handshake” deal for a senior member of staff who had been arrested for domestic abuse. Four senior figures at the Scottish Police Authority, received a total of more than £350,000.

A former chief executive of Scotland’s police watchdog signed off on a £165,000 “golden handshake” deal for a senior executive who had been arrested for domestic abuse, an employment tribunal has heard.

Four senior figures at the Scottish Police Authority, the body responsible for oversight of Police Scotland, received a total of more than £350,000 they were not entitled to, the tribunal in Glasgow was told.

Amy Mcdonald, a former director of financial accountability at the SPA, said there was “significant wrongdoing” and “gross misuse of public resources” at the authority

Among a range of redundancy packages she claimed contravened SPA policy, Ms Mcdonald said one executive left the authority in May 2016 pending prosecution for a domestic abuse offence.

The individual, referred to as GH, received a redundancy payment of £145,000 and a further £20,000 in lieu of notice, Ms Mcdonald claimed.

She added that the payment was signed off by John Foley, the then SPA chief executive, despite the fact a member of the authority’s senior management group raised misgivings.

Ms Mcdonald, 44, said the circumstances surrounding the executive’s arrest in April that year were “common knowledge” within the SPA, including to Mr Foley, but he went on to approve the deal.

“He was advised by the director of governance within SPA, ‘Are you sure you want to sign that payment off?’,” Ms Mcdonald said.

“That person shouldn’t have received any money. They could have been dismissed from the organisation at no cost to the taxpayer.”

Ms Mcdonald said that in December 2016, she discovered a redundancy payment of £76,900 was due to be paid to a senior figure, referred to as IJ, who had tendered their resignation two months before. She alleged James Gray, chief finance officer at Police Scotland, “asked the individual to withdraw their resignation, and they would put together a case of redundancy payment”.

Ms Mcdonald claims she was sidelined after alerting senior SPA figures to the potential misuse of public funds. In total, the alleged payments account for £359,000 of taxpayers’ money.

A court order obtained by the SPA prevents the names of senior figures alleged to have received payments from being revealed in connection with the proceedings, but The Scotsman understands that the senior figure referred to as GH is a woman.

The tribunal before employment judge Susan Walker continues.

“That person shouldn’t have received any money. They could have been dismissed from the organisation at no cost to the taxpayer” AMY MCDONALD