MINISTER MET CONVICTED CONMAN AGAIN, ADMIT SNP:
THE Scottish Government yesterday admitted that a cabinet Minister met twice with a convicted conman at the centre of a £2 million cronyism row – despite previously denying the meetings had taken place.
Last week The Scottish Mail on Sunday revealed how an IT firm benefited from lucrative contracts from the NHS – which at the time was run by Health Secretary Alex Neil – after prominent SNP donor Jamie Rae was appointed as a nonexecutive director of the company.
Rae, who was jailed in 1997 for mortgage fraud and claiming thousands of pounds worth of false benefits, had given money to SNP HQ and to Mr Neil’s local branch.
When critics claimed the deal was proof of ‘cronyism’ and a possible abuse of public money, the Scottish Government insisted that Rae and Mr Neil had only met once in August 2014 – after the IT deal with Nugensis was struck in April 2014. That April Mr Neil announced £2.2 million of funding for health boards but the cash could only be used to buy Nugensis’s Ward View app.
However, we can now reveal that Rae and Mr Neil met twice before the awarding of the IT deal – in February 2013 and September 2013.
Yesterday, opposition politicians called for clarity on the relationship between Nugensis and Mr Neil. Last night, there were also calls for the Auditor General to investigate the arrangement with Nugensis.
Conservative MSP Alex Johnstone said: ‘It’s time the Scottish Government opened up about who the Minister met and when and how this deal came to be done. There is an increasing trend of allegations of cronyism within the SNP, which is creeping into the way the Scottish Government does business.’
Rae, a recycling millionaire, backed the SNP’s 2011 election campaign, donating more than £13,000 including £10,012 to central coffers and £1,525 to Airdrie and Shotts branch, Mr Neil’s constituency.
Former First Minister Alex Salmond was pictured with Rae on sev- eral occasions and stood by him, even when urged to expel him from the party.
Last week, when asked if a meeting in August 2014 was the only one Mr Neil had with Mr Rae, the Government response was, ‘Yes’.
However, Rae is also chief executive of the Throat Cancer Foundation health charity, which is lobbying MSPs for boys to be vaccinated against the HPV virus. On presenting a petition to Holyrood in 2013, his application states: ‘We met Alex Neil MSP on the 4th February 2013… We have a further meeting with Alex Neil arranged for later this year (date to be confirmed).’
We have uncovered Government documents suggesting Mr Neil held an official engagement with Rae on September 11, 2013.
Last night the Scottish Government confirmed those meetings had indeed taken place.
A spokesman said the two met on February 4, 2013, but it was a constituency meeting and the details of what was discussed had not been recorded by the Government.
She added: ‘The meeting on September 11, 2013, was in Mr Rae’s capacity as CEO of the Throat Cancer Foundation. The meeting took place at parliament as part of the regular meetings any Health Secretary would expect to have with important cancer charities.’