THE SECOND BOOK OF REVELATION & CORRUPTION IN THE CORRIDORS OF POWER? Far be it from your editor and his humble pen to try to emulate the brilliantly written scriptures in the book of Revelation, but he is however, impelled by the Freedom Of Information Act to try to expose the inequalities in life or even plain corruption that has, and may well still be taking place in in the corridors of power. Whether at local level or in the hierarchies of Government. One short passage from Revelation in the good book tells us; ‘What thou seest write in a book and a second quote says He that hath an ear let him hear. Truly words of wisdom! Under the F.O.I. Ms Joanna Smart, Team Co-ordinator at H.I.E. kindly provided me with reams of information relating to the numerous and substantial grants of money, gleaned from the public purse, by directors of all ten LECs and the HIE, over the years. Your editor plans only to publish names of prominent directors and the amounts they got while at the same time totalling the sum from each LEC and HIE for reader’s information, the totals will include any itemised amounts published in the ’Highlander’. In the same accounts and over the same period Sir Fraser Morrison’s firm Morrison Construction Ltd of Tain was awarded 12 HIE grants amounting to £1,331,229 (One million three hundred and thirty one thousand, two hundred and twenty nine pounds.) Most, but not all of the grant money, is listed as being for “Contract awarded after competitive tender for property redevelopment”. In addition his company was awarded a contract as follows; ‘TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING DIRECTORS’ Quote, ‘Transactions involving directors 1994-95; During the year one contract amounting to £517,000 was awarded, after competitive tendering to Morrison Construction Limited. The Chairman, Mr A. F. Morrison is chairman and managing director of the Morrison Construction Group’. RESPONSE Dear Mr Ross REQUEST FOR INFORMATION Thank you for your request, received on the 13th October 2005, for names of board members who have benefited financially whilst holding office with Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) or any of the following Local Enterprise Companies (LECs): HIE has published details in its accounts of Directors’ remuneration since 1991. Please find enclosed extracts of HIE accounts. Please note, that LEC board members do not receive remuneration. Yours sincerely Joanna Smart THE SECOND BOOK OF REVELATION |
£ 330,360* £ 9,903 £ 61,822 £ 2,490 £ ,986 £ 22,115 £ 1,596 £ 5,000 £ 7,183 £ 19,500 £ 1,240 £ 1,781 £ 224,987 £ ,875 £ ,498 £ 19,059 £ 23,100* £ 245,520* £ 13,855* £ 7,200* £ 1,050* £ 10,236 £ 3,000 £ 140,000 £1,200,625** £ 36,292*** £ 35,588 £ 5,197 |
£ 3,695 £ 1,995 £ 1,321 £ 2,123 £ 16,392 £ 10,526* £232,230* £365,750* £ 355* £ 2,360 £ 1,391 £ 37,298 £ 43,871 £413,900 £ 1,436 £413,900 £ 3,015 £ 3,300 £ 31,464 £ 15,173* £ 86,110* £ 56,200 £ 2,900 £ ,264 £ 2,260 £ 23,550 £ 9,500 £508,791 |
£ 1,060 £ 2,680 £ 12,317 £ 15,706 £ 3,482 £ 4,340*** £ 15,000 £ 17,198 £ 12,026 £ 61,791 £ 4,886 £ 34,416 £ 5,488 £ 12,843 £ 21,685 £ 6,340*** £ 20,848 £ 1,002 £ 1,380 £ 32,727 £ 38,708*** £ 52,996 £ 57,192** £ 17,055 £ 75,887*** £ 12,309 £ 16,000 £ 92,625*** |
| * Grants paid to Morrison Construction of Tain. ** Grants paid to Norfrost Ltd, Caithness. ***Grants paid to companies associated with the present-day HIE Chairman, Mr Willie Roe. There are many other multiple grants paid out to HIE Board Members but space does not allow these to be identified in the current ‘Highlander’. Readers seeking info on them can access details from HIE, Inverness, under the FOI Act. Ed. GRANTS PAID OUT OVER A SIMILAR PERIOD TO RACE DIRECTORS TOTALLED SOME £2,160,775 The ‘Highlander’ questions why all grants paid out from the RACE coffers to directors were not (and possibly still are not) advertised in the local press? Selective advertising is not good enough when it comes to dealing with public money. Openness and accountability is what we have not been getting. Will it change now one wonders under the direction of the new Chief Executive, Maitland Hyslop? Lets hope so. MORE QUESTIONS FOR THE FOI TEAM CO-ORDINATOR After totalling up the massive amount of public money that had been heaped on Morrison Construction during Sir Fraser’s reign, your editor has asked if the same company has had any further grants from HIE and if so to what extent and for what purpose since Sir Fraser vacated the ‘Chair’? |