The transport minister was accused of treating the Scottish parliament with “contempt” after claiming he had found a “missing” email indicating that the ferry fiasco deal had finally been approved by then-Transport Minister Derek McKay. .
The email opened at noon just before a debate over the catastrophic contract given to Jim McCall’s Ferguson Marines, in which two lifeboats have not yet been delivered, more than five years late and more than doubling the budget.
A missing decision-making document was uncovered by Jenny Gilrut and sparked a war of words in the Scottish Parliament, with Scottish Labor Labor spokesman Neil Bibi raising a point by saying he treated Parliament with “contempt”.
This came after public finance auditors expressed “disappointment” at the lack of documentary evidence as to why ministers were happy to take the risk of continuing to award the controversial £ 97 million contract to Ferguson Marine without binding guarantees for the shipbuilder’s reimbursement.
An audit of Scotland found that ministers continued to award the contract despite concerns expressed by the government’s ferry authority, Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), about the lack of financial guarantees that put them at risk.
The founder of the Scottish Parliament’s Public Audit Committee, Richard Leonard, said earlier that correspondence between officials in the Scottish Government and CMAL suggested that there was a ministerial instruction, but that it had not been properly recorded.
And he suggested that the failure of transparency was a violation of the Public Finance and Accountability Act.
Ms Gilrut said in a statement to MEPs: “I have some good news to share with parliament. And I really have this good news literally here in my hand.
“The missing document has been found. Ministers were informed of this by officials shortly before noon today, and I wanted to take this first opportunity to pass this news on to Parliament.
“The document is an e-mail clarifying who approved the decision to award the contract for the construction of ships 801 and 802 to Ferguson Shipyard, sent in response to the key submission [by CMAL] on October 8, 2015
“It is dated October 9 at 14:32 and reads:” The Minister is pleased with the proposals and we would like them to be moved as soon as possible, please. ”
“The email was sent by the Office of the Minister of Transport and Islands. I have in my hand this irrefutable documentary evidence that this decision was made correctly and correctly by the then Minister of Transport Derek Mackay.
“We said we would continue to watch in good faith, and that’s exactly what we did.”
She said it was found because a random copy of an email chain between two officials who left the government a few years ago included an email from the transport minister’s personal account and was “buried” in someone’s electronic files.
“Now the e-mail confirms what we said it would say, it’s a long line because that’s how the management system works. This documentation was provided to the Auditor General and is now being published, “said Ms. Gilrut.
“But this email destroys the opposition’s ridiculous conspiracy theories that another minister made that decision and dispels baseless speculation that there was a ministerial instruction.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Labor Labor Party raised order, saying the minister had scorn parliament and lawmakers.
“Members aim to treat others with courtesy and respect. The Minister of Transport opened an email to the hall this afternoon, which no one else has seen in this hall, “he said. “It is absolutely unacceptable for the minister to treat parliament and members with contempt. Where is the email that was not sent to us, no one has seen it. This is extremely unacceptable and disrespectful to parliament, the way this government is behaving. ”
President Alison Johnstone said: “I did not know about this development either. I think this is something that will be considered and the answer will be given to the member later this afternoon, if that is acceptable. ”
Scottish Conservatives in the shadow of Transport Minister Graham Simpson said the email did not say why the decision was made and why the council did not award the contract. ”
Ms Gilroy replied: “The opposition must give up, they have an answer here today. If the opposition does not believe my word, I must listen to the voters of our island communities.
“They are the ones who want to see progress in this.”
Willie Renee, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said: “She expects us to believe that the multi-million pound contract has been given the green light based on a single-line email. For me, this does not fill me with confidence. Of course, this does not explain why the central council was neglected by the minister.
“I think this will raise a lot more questions and I want to see this email. I want to see the background of the email. And I want to see the documents that go with it.
“Because I just don’t believe that at the last minute before the debate we have a dispute over a stabbing by the minister.” He added: “As long as the bombs fall on them, the denial continues.”
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