Lobbying and access to the corridors of power have been key themes of the first week of The Ferret's Who Runs Scotland series. We kicked off our month-long investigation by revealing that businesses dominate lobbying of the Scottish Government.

But it's not just ministers whom lobbyists target. Opposition MSPs are also an important entry point to Holyrood. They can propose debates, table amendments to bills and some could be future ministers.

So which MSPs have companies seen as most important - and most open - to their messages since the last election in 2021? We've plunged back into the darkest depths of Holyrood's lobbying register to find out.

Daniel Johnson (270 meetings)

Johnson, Scottish Labour's shadow secretary for enterprise and business, is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a popular target for corporate lobbying. He has had over 100 more meetings with business than any other opposition MSP.

Johnson met most with Scottish Financial Enterprise (16), which represents financial services firms. He also had meetings with banks, insurance firms, asset managers and representatives of the private equity industry.

He was lobbied 12 times by the British Retail Consortium. Johnson is the sole shareholder of Stripe Retail Ltd, which provides "retail consulting and advisory services". Johnson's shares are valued at £280,000 and he receives dividends from the company.

He also had meetings with the Scottish Tourism Alliance (9), the trade body for Scotland's green energy industry, Scottish Renewables (8), and oil giant BP (7).

He attended Scotland's rugby win over Australia in November 2024 as a guest of Vodafone.

Anas Sarwar (169 meetings)

Just over half of lobbying of the Scottish Labour leader since 2021 has come from business interests.

Sarwar's meetings with corporations have been broadly spread across industries, but ScottishPower (8) topped the list. He also met repeatedly with fellow energy giants Shell (5) and SSE (5).

He met Salmon Scotland, the trade association for Scotland's controversial fish farming sector, 5 times.

Two of these events were organised by lobbying firm Quantum Communications, which is led by Alan Roden, the former Scottish political editor of the Daily Mail who was previously a Scottish Labour spin doctor.

In a piece in The Times earlier this week entitled 'We can use our ties with Trump to make Scotland greater again', Sarwar wrote that "if we want Scotland to prosper, we must make it a place where businesses feel wanted and welcomed".

Labour said the headline for The Times piece was given by the paper itself and were not Sarwar's words.

Miles Briggs (157 meetings)

Tory MSP Briggs is the second-most lobbied MSP overall, behind only the now housing minister, Paul McLennan. Just over a third of his meetings involved business interests.

Briggs met Homes for Scotland - the representative body for Scotland's housebuilding industry - 14 times. He served as the Scottish Conservatives' housing spokesperson between May 2021 and October 2024.

The list member for the Lothian region met Scottish Land and Estates (SLE), which represents rural landowners, 8 times.

Discussions with SLE included "possible amendments" to legislation affecting landlords, including an offer by the body to send Briggs a "draft text of an amendment to strike out" part of a bill relating to the private rental sector that it opposed.

Who's lobbying Scotland? How big business influences Scottish ministers

Brian Whittle (153 meetings)

Whittle, the Scottish Conservative MSP for South Scotland, met most frequently with clients of the public relations firm, Message Matters (12), itself run by two former Tory figures.

Whittle is himself a director and shareholder of a business advice consultancy called Trackside Consultancy, where he says he works for a maximum of 12 hours a month outside of parliamentary time. He has been paid just under £13,000 for the role since the last election.

The individual business groups that lobbied Whittle most were Scotti...

The SNP has been in power at Holyrood for nearly 20 years and polls suggest it will win again in 2026.

But last year's general election was a blip in the party's dominance, as Labour won a landslide across the UK including 37 of Scotland's 57 seats.

Longstanding MP Ian Murray was named the government's Scottish secretary nine years after he had been Labour's last man standing following its electoral wipeout north of the border.

So who has Murray brought into his team, who is trying to influence them, and what does the Scotland Office actually do?

As part of our series, Who Runs Scotland?, The Ferret takes a closer look.

Who's in Murray's team?

Kirsty McNeill, elected as MP for Midlothian last year, is under-secretary of state for Scotland and Murray's deputy.

McNeill was an adviser to Gordon Brown while he was prime minister and on his charity projects after he left office. She has worked for various charities and, prior to her election in 2024, was chair of the board of Our Scottish Future, a think tank Brown set up in 2019 to make a "progressive case" for the Union.

Two veterans of the independence referendum are the special advisers at the Scotland Office, Kieron Higgins and Callum Munro.

Higgins joined Murray's team as a political adviser in May 2024 after five years at Citizens Advice Scotland. Before that he was a spin doctor for Scottish Labour and national communications officer for Better Together in 2014.

Munro is a former head of news at the British Army and has been a member of the army reserve. He was 'get out the vote' coordinator for the 'No' campaign during the referendum.

Who's had access to Murray & Co?

Records of Murray's meetings are available for his first six months in the Scotland Office.

His first official meeting was with the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) involving a photo opportunity and a discussion about protections for Scotch Whisky in Brazil.

Murray said the choice of the whisky industry for his first meeting proved "economic growth and job creation" were top of the agenda for the UK government. The 'water of life' could be the key to unlocking "markets for other Scottish products and services", he wrote in The Herald.

The SWA is one of three organisations Murray saw at least three times in his first half-year in the role.

He met Petroineos in his first week in post and on three other occasions before the turn of the year. Each of these meetings were to discuss the company's Grangemouth oil refinery - which is due to close this year with the loss of hundreds of jobs.

Murray held talks with Norwegian state oil giant Equinor three times between September and December. Equinor is behind the controversial bid to drill for oil at the Rosebank field off the coast of Shetland, a project which has faced a massive backlash from environmental campaigners.

Other energy industry players he scheduled time for included BP, Shell, Harbour Energy, oil and gas trade body, OEUK, and EDF.

Business interests accounted for 66 of the 121 meetings held by Murray in his first six months. These included engagements with defence giants BAE Systems, Thales and Kongsberg which each have a presence in Scotland and have faced protests over links to Israel since the start of the war in Gaza.

Murray attended the Farnborough International Airshow in Hampshire in July where he had a number of "planned brush by" discussions with companies including RTX (formerly Raytheon) and Leonardo to hear their "priorities".

Individuals he has met include banker and executive chairman of the Buccleuch Group, Benny Higgins. The pair discussed business, the regeneration of the Granton area of Edinburgh and artwork. Higgins is also the chair of the board of the National Galleries of Scotland.

What about gifts and jollies?

The Labour government has faced criticism for accepting freebies since it was elected.

Murray and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar faced scrutiny in September when it was revealed they were treated to free seats and hospit...

Fossil fuel giants, influential PR firms and the short-term lets industry are among the top lobbyists of the Scottish Government since John Swinney became first minister, The Ferret can reveal.

Energy company SSE, oil major BP, and the Association of Scotland's Self-Caterers were the three business groups who met Swinney's ministers or their advisers most, while the National Farmers Union of Scotland was the most active lobbyist overall.

Message Matters, run by former Tory spin doctor, Andy Maciver and ex-Conservative MP, Peter Duncan, was the public relations firm that had the most time with Swinney's government on behalf of a range of clients.

In the first nine months of Swinney's premiership, 44 per cent of lobbying was by companies and business groups - higher than any other sector, including charities, campaign groups and trade unions combined (38 per cent).

As part of our month-long series, Who Runs Scotland, The Ferret analysed hundreds of records from the Holyrood lobbying register via Transparency International UK's Open Access tool.

Experts said Scotland needed more "public policy expertise and far less spin." Loopholes should be closed to bring lobbying "out of the shadows," campaigners argued.

Deputy first minister and economy secretary, Kate Forbes, was the most accessible minister for lobbyists. She chalked up over 100 meetings between May 2024 and February 2025 - 80 per cent of which were with business interests.

Lobbying is a normal and legal part of the political process, which allows different stakeholders and interest groups to meet with lawmakers and attempt to influence the direction of policy.

But while it often goes under the radar, lobbying can have a big impact on policy decisions. Scotland's deposit return scheme - for example - was shelved after a major lobbying effort by opponents including the whisky industry.

Campaigners with lobbying experience, including a former spin doctor, claimed the process favours businesses while "marginalised" communities are largely shut out. They alleged that Scotland's democracy could be "undermined" by lobbying from big business, and called for all meetings to be minuted and made public.

The Scottish Government said the public would expect it to "meet with a wide range of groups on a variety of subjects".

What did top lobbyists ask for?

Energy giants

The energy industry - including both renewable and fossil fuel companies - accounted for 11 per cent of lobbying activity under Swinney, more than any other business sector.

SSE, based in Perth and one of Scotland's biggest companies, met ministers 13 times.

In one meeting with Swinney, the multinational lobbied for changes to Scotland's planning system to "unlock more flexible" energy generation, including that equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.

The government is considering a controversial bid from the firm to build a new CCS-equipped gas power station at Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. SSE argues the site would produce mostly clean power but environmental campaigners fear approving it could be incompatible with climate targets and keep Scotland "locked into volatile gas markets".

In other meetings, the company promoted its renewables projects and frequently asked that the planning process for green energy projects be sped up.

An SSE spokesperson told The Ferret that it regularly engaged with "politicians from all parties, community groups and others about our work".

They added: "That engagement is carried out ethically and transparently and it's no secret that to unlock this investment we want to ensure Scotland's planning system keeps pace with the rest of the UK."

BP representatives met with ministers 10 times since Swinney came to office, including multiple meetings with the first minister, his deputy Forbes, and acting energy minister, Gillian Martin.

The company lobbied ministers via its exhibition stand at the SNP conference last year. It also met Forbes and public finance minister, Ivan M...

Scotland is just a year away from its next election, and current polling suggests the SNP could be about to extend its time in power.

It's been a tumultuous few years at the top of Scottish politics. Since 2023, there have been three first ministers, innumerable ministerial changes, the collapse of a coalition and a police investigation into the SNP's finances.

The media circus that surrounds our elected politicians can often obscure the powerful interests that are impacting decisions in Scotland everyday. Often, it seems that power and influence is confined to Holyrood and Westminster.

But who is influencing our politicians? Which business interests are wielding power outside of parliament? Who is running our industries? Who is impacting our environment and climate?

Here at The Ferret, we are interested in those who hold sway both within and outside of parliament's walls - those who often go under the radar in the corridors of power, without the public accountability our politicians face.

Four years ago, we published our first major series looking at where power lies in Scotland. At that point, Nicola Sturgeon was riding high in the polls, the Conservatives were in control of Westminster, and the world was emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The world has changed unimaginably since then. So we asked you to help us examine who controls the levers of power in Scotland in 2025, and raised more than £11,000 in a crowdfunding campaign.

The result is a new month-long series - Who Runs Scotland - launching this Sunday.

Throughout April, we'll investigate powerful business interests, lobbying and PR firms, examine the affairs of wealthy Scots wielding influence and delve into the foreign interests that leverage power right here in Scotland.

We'll look at the multinationals that own some of Scotland's iconic industries, examine the powerful dealmakers and board members who exert influence on our arts, culture and education, and investigate the tech bros and businesses looking to take control of Scotland's future - in sectors like AI and space exploration.

We have spent months investigating the issues you said you were interested in, examining sectors, businesses and powerful individuals that often escape the glare of the media.

This project, funded by donations from our readers and members, is for everyone in Scotland who is concerned about where the power lies. And we want to make it accessible.

So thanks to you, we're also making the whole series free to read, helping you share our findings far and wide. What's more, we'll be sharing key stories about power in Scotland that we've already looked at throughout the year.

We'd love for you to be involved, so email us at [email protected] or message us on social media if you think there's some influence we should be delving into.

You can also sign up to our FREE Ferret Underground newsletter for all the stories and inside scoops from the series each week.

We could not have done this series without your incredible support. We hope you find it illuminating.

The Ferret is an independent, investigative journalism cooperative dedicated to holding power to account.

Since 2015, we have reported on corruption, environmental issues, human rights, and political influence in Scotland.

Our work is supported by members who believe in journalism that challenges, exposes, and informs. If you value in-depth, fact-based reporting, you can support our work by becoming a member.

Join us today

The UK Government's changes to disability benefits have been criticised by campaigners and politicians in Scotland.

New rules for assessing who can receive the personal independence payment (PIP) were announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves in March, alongside changes to universal credit.

Concerns have been raised about how these policies will impact people in Scotland, which has some control over its social security system.

Ferret Fact Service explains.

What changes have been announced?

More than 3.5 million people are paid the personal independence payment in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The benefit is for those who have a long-term physical or mental health condition.

It is made up of two parts, one for daily living and one for mobility. Claimants are eligible for one or both of the elements and payments are adjusted accordingly.

The UK Government plans to tighten up the eligibility criteria for the daily living part of PIP, and applicants will need to score higher on their assessment than previously. There are also plans for more frequent assessments for many people claiming PIP.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has estimated this will result in about 800,000 people having their benefits impacted, and the changes will come into force in April 2026.

People who receive universal credit could also face changes to their payments. About 7.5 million people across the UK get monthly payments, while some in Scotland get their payments twice a month.

Some people who receive universal credit are not obliged to try and find work due to long-term health concerns, and many people receive a top-up to these benefits to account for this.

The new proposals will mean that incapacity benefit will no longer be available to those under 22, while those claiming the benefit for the first time will receive a smaller payment. The weekly amount will be reduced from £97 to £50, at which level it will be frozen until the end of 2029-30.

People already claiming the health-related top-up will have their payment frozen at the higher rate.

How much control does the Scottish Parliament have over disability benefits?

Some benefits are devolved to Scotland, which means a few of the payments received by Scots are the responsibility of Scottish ministers, who make decisions on changes.

Eleven benefits were devolved after the 2016 Scotland Act came into force. These included the disability living allowance, PIP, attendance allowance and severe disablement allowance.

The UK Government retained responsibility for major benefits including universal credit, child benefit, the state pension and maternity allowance.

How could these changes affect Scottish benefits?

In Scotland, PIP has been replaced by the adult disability payment (ADP), and the changes to PIP announced by the chancellor will not apply in Scotland. Currently there are 433,050 people receiving the adult disability benefit.

While there are a small number of people in Scotland still receiving PIP (because ADP is not fully rolled out), it is expected everyone will be transferred over to adult disability payments by the time the main changes proposed by the UK Government come into force.

The Scottish Government has ruled out making similar changes to those made by the UK Government. The cabinet secretary for social justice, Shirley-Anne Somerville, told a Scottish Parliament committee on 6 March that ministers "do not intend to follow Westminster's approach, because that would be exceptionally detrimental to people who receive those payments and are entitled to them."

Universal credit changes will impact Scotland, as this benefit remains reserved to Westminster.

What about Scotland's budget?

While Scottish ministers have no plans to replicate the UK Government's reforms, there may be a knock-on effect for the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government gets most of its funding each year through a block grant, transferred from the UK Government, which is made up of a proportional allocation ...

Scotland's shipbuilding industry has been back in the spotlight in recent weeks, after the announcement that seven new ferries for Caledonian MacBrayne will be built by a Polish firm instead of a Clyde shipyard.

The contract for seven new small ferries, which will replace existing boats with more modern electric vessels, is part of CalMac's plan to decarbonise its fleet.

Opposition parties argued that the first minister John Swinney had allowed the contracts to go overseas when the nationalised Ferguson shipyard on the Clyde could have built them.

But how was it decided to build the ferries in Poland? And could the Scottish Government have intervened?

Ferret Fact Service explains.

How does the tendering process work?

CalMac is a publicly-owned company, so ferries built for use on its routes are meant to go through a system of public tendering.

This means that Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), which owns the ferries and land-based assets used by CalMac, puts out a public notice to say it needs a number of ferries to be built, and then private companies bid for the contract to do the work.

The contract for seven new ferries was announced in July 2024, with CMAL initially selecting 12 bidders, including Ferguson.

While the Clyde firm made it onto the final shortlist of six, the contract was eventually handed to Polish firm, Remontowa. The tender is worth £175m and will see seven new "loch class" vessels built to replace ageing boats currently serving routes in Scotland.

Could Ferguson have been directly given the contracts?

When the plan to build seven new vessels was announced, there were calls for the contract to be awarded to the Ferguson yard, in order to help secure its future.

It is possible under certain circumstances for the open tendering process to be bypassed. This is known as a direct award.

Legally there are only very specific cases where this can be used. The Scottish Government gives some examples of how a direct award could be given out, including "extreme urgency due to unforeseen circumstances", "covering the immediate need where there is only one possible supplier", or small modifications to existing contracts.

In an exchange with Labour MSP Claire Baker in the Scottish Parliament, deputy first minister Kate Forbes said that a direct award of the ferries contract to Ferguson "would have introduced substantial risk" that the contract could have been legally-challenged by other shipbuilders. She said it could have led to the "worst of both worlds, with the boats not being delivered to islanders and Ferguson Marine not getting the contract because the matter ended up in the courts".

According to a report by public finance watchdog, Audit Scotland, the small ferries contract went to public competitive tender after "legal advice that a direct award would be in breach of the conditions set out in the UK Subsidy Control Act".

Subsidy control, which was previously called state aid when the UK was part of the European Union, sets rules on how public money can be used. It regulates when a state public authority can and cannot give financial support to an enterprise, giving them an economic advantage.

It is against the law for public money to be spent to give one group or company a competitive advantage over others, unless strict criteria are met.

The UK guidelines state that "subsidies should be given in the public interest" such as to address a market failure.

According to the Scottish Government, legal advice suggested handing the contract directly to Ferguson without an open tendering process would have fallen foul of these rules.

What happened to Ferguson?

The Ferguson shipyard, which has been producing ships on the Clyde since the start of the 20th century, was forced into administration in 2014. It was then taken over by a company owned by Scottish businessman Jim McColl, and renamed Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd (FMEL).

In 2015, it was announced the new company had beaten six other bidders to win a £...

WARNING: THIS REPORT CONTAINS RACIST, ISLAMOPHOBIC AND MISOGYNISTIC CONTENT

A far right group has been condemned for targeting young men after one of its teenage activists posted racist, misogynistic and Islamophobic messages on social media.

The schoolboy - who we are not naming - is a card-carrying member of the Homeland Party.

In one video, the teenager said he has "always been disgusted by mixed race couples and race mixing in general" and claimed white women's attraction to Black or Asian men is "wrong for them and stems from porn addiction and promiscuity".

The 16-year-old also called for pro-immigration politicians to be jailed and in a post on social media, he said that "the idea that we fought the Nazis in an ideological war is extremely damaging and must be refuted".

He also claimed to have been interviewed by a teacher over his political views, suggesting it was at the behest of counter terrorism officers.

The Scottish Greens said the teenager's comments - some of which were posted after he joined Homeland - are "shocking" and it was "deeply troubling to see someone so young sharing such poison and hatred". The party accused "hate groups like Homeland" of targeting "young and disenfranchised people," particularly "boys and young men".

The anti-racism charity Hope not hate claimed Homeland is "leading young men, some of them teenagers, down a dark path, doing potentially irreparable damage to their futures in the process". An expert on the 'manosphere' said "unregulated social media" plays a "big part" in the radicalisation of young men.

Author of slogan cited by white supremacist murderers invited to UK by far right party

The Homeland Party -which offered to coach the teenager in debating skills last September when he was 15 years old - confirmed he was a party member and described him as a "true son of Scotland who is doing his community proud". It added: "We won't throw such young people under the bus for things they've said or done online before they joined us - even when we strongly disagree with them."

Homeland is a far right political party founded by a Scot called Kenny Smith from the Isle of Lewis, who was a candidate for the British National Party, which was condemned for its racism. Smith started Homeland in 2023 after breaking away from another far right group called Patriotic Alternative.

One branch organiser for the party has claimed that roughly 70 per cent of Homeland's members are under 30.

Homeland's Scottish teenage activist became a member of the party in January and supports the mass deportation of immigrants. His political posts date back to when he was 15 years old.

He said in a video that some women are addicted to porn and constantly search for "extreme" sex including "sleeping with a bunch of men", and that "the next thing is eventually gonna be black man." Women enjoy this because it is "perverse" and "kind of dirty", he added.

Referring to an event last month at his school when staff and pupils were encouraged to try on hijabs to celebrate 'World Hijab Day', the 16-year-old wrote on his social media account: "At the same time in England, a school boy was stabbed to death by a foreigner. And just to add salt to the wound, now the Labour government is set on creating a council to 'tackle Islamophobia'. I'm disgusted at the current political and educational system in Britain."

The youth wrote "yawn" in response to prime minister Keir Starmer who said antisemitism is "hatred", and claimed that "our ancestors didn't fight the Nazis so we could get invaded by foreigners and Muslims from the third world instead".

After posting an image of a shanty town alongside a cathedral, he wrote: "The people who built this …are not going to benefit or enrich the culture of a people who built this ."

He also said politics needs to get a "lot nastier" and urged "British people" to "come out fighting". He added: "The only way out of our corrupt political system and to stop the heinous crimes being committed ...

Scottish Limited Partnerships, or SLPs, are a business entity provided for in UK law dating back to the Limited Partnerships Act of 1907.

SLPs differ from limited partnerships elsewhere in the UK as they have "legal personality", which allows them to enter into contracts, and take on debts or own property. In a limited partnership in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, this is done by the partners.

For this reason, SLPs are attractive entities for companies engaged in illicit or secretive activities. Firms can establish a legitimate foothold in the UK while obscuring their operations through partners located in "secrecy jurisdictions".

They have been linked with money laundering, internet fraud, and one of the worst bank robberies in recent history.

Timeline

December 2014

The Great Moldovan Bank Robbery

It emerges that $1bn vanished from three of Moldova's leading banks. Much of the money passed through UK companies, according to a report by the private international investigation agency Kroll. Read more

June 2015

Flat in Edinburgh housing estate revealed to be home to hundreds of firms

The Sunday Herald reveals that 438 companies were registered to a modest flat in Pilton, a housing estate made famous by Irvine Welsh's 1993 novel, Trainspotting. Some were owned by offshore vehicles in "secrecy jurisdictions" such as Seychelles and some were accused of involvement in the Moldovan bank fraud. Read more

July 2016

SLPs are reported to be marketed to customers in Latvia, Ukraine and Russia

These "off-the-shelf" Scottish firms prompt fears that SLPs are being used for money-laundering and tax evasion in the former Soviet Union, according to The Herald's reporting. Read more

December 2017

Investigators say nearly $3bn was launded from banks in Moldova

Much of the "dirty cash" was funneled through anonymous Scottish and UK shell firms, according to US-based private detective agency, Kroll. Read more

April 2018

The UK Government accounces a crackdown on SLPs

The move comes after a review by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) found that Scottish entities had been used to move $80bn from Russia in just four years. Read more

October 2021

Edinburgh firm linked to Ukranian mafia embezzlement

The Ferret revealed that two addresses in Edinburgh were listed as the official headquarters for thousands of businesses, including one linked to a Ukranian corruption case. Many were created by companies registered in offshore jurisdictions such as the British Virgin Islands or Seychelles. Read more

June 2022

Dozens of Scottish firms linked to UN sanctions target

The firms registered at an Edinburgh address involve a man linked to a gas tycoon blacklisted by the UK Government for aiding Russa's occupation of Ukraine, the Ferret found. Read more

March 2023

Only three SLPs formed by residents of Scotland

An analysis by The Ferret of all 631 SLPs created during 2022 showed that only three were registered by Scotland residents. Most were registered to companies based in the UK, but nearly two hundred were registered to "secrecy jurisdictions" like Switzerland, the United States, Seychelles, and the United Arab Emirates. Read more

October 2023

UK regulation intented to curb abuse of limited partnerships becomes law

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) aims to deliver reforms on tackling economic crime and improving transparency over corporate entities.

March 2024

Scottish firms continue to be linked with fraud and accusations of tax evasion and collusion with Russia

The Ferret reports on one SLP registered in Granton, Edinburgh used by the self-styled "King of Fraud" to hoard much of the ill-gotten gains of an internet fraud scheme. Another SLP in Glasgow is linked to a pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch wanted for tax evasion. Read more

The Ferret is an independent, investigative journalism cooperative dedicated to holding power to account. Since 2015, we have reported on corruption, environmental...

"He works on the night shift and is probably asleep," says an elderly woman as she walks past us and opens the door to her ground floor flat.

She's referring to her neighbour across the landing whose front door has empty beer bottles outside, and a large bag of garden fertiliser on the doormat. We knock on the door. No response. We wait a few moments and chap again. Still nothing.

The Ferret is in Edinburgh on a dank winter's day trying to track down a 'company' linked to an international money laundering scandal - involving an estimated £770m. We're in Muirhouse to be precise, a housing estate in Scotland's capital made famous by its favourite son, Irvine Welsh, who immortalised the working class area in his 1993 novel, Trainspotting.

Royston Mains Street is our second stop today. We drove here after doorstepping another nondescript tenement flat, a few minutes drive away in Granton Crescent, also in Muirhouse. There was no-one there either, nor any sign of the 'company' we're investigating which is registered as a Scottish Limited Partnership (SLP), a legal entity under UK law.

There are 1,156 SLPs registered at this address.

SLPs date back to the Limited Partnerships Act of 1907. They are used by thousands of legitimate businesses - but some have been used by money launderers, tax evaders and fraudsters, prompting calls for reform to laws to crackdown on criminality. SLPs are easy to set up and can hold assets and enter into contracts, which helps to obscure ownership and facilitate activities like money laundering.

They've been of interest to The Ferret for some years now. In 2023, for example, we found that only three out of 631 SLPs had been formed by residents of Scotland. Two years prior, we revealed that a couple of Edinburgh addresses had been cited as the official headquarters for businesses that use opaque financial structures linked to alleged money laundering and tax abuse.

Now, as part of our finance project, The Money Trail, SLPs are in sharp focus again.

In Edinburgh, the SLP we're trying to track down is called Octmedia and its registered address is the top floor flat we visited in Granton Terrace. We want to speak to the people behind this SLP because it was used to launder money generated in an international scam co-run by a man who called himself the "King of Fraud".

According to court documents seen by The Ferret, Octmedia was used to hoard much of the ill-gotten gains of an internet fraud scheme. The operation saw fraudsters set up advertising companies to sell online ads, and charge clients proportionate to the number of views the ads received. They also generated millions of artificial views from 650,000 IP addresses that were leased.

The conmen infected 1.7 million computers with malware, which covertly accessed the internet to generate ad views. Their complex scheme was powered by 1,900 computers that were rented from a Texas data centre and used remotely to post ads onto 5,000 spoof websites.

In November 2021, Aleksandr Zhukov, the self-described "King of Fraud" who helped set up two ad networks in 2014, was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison in the US. Two other individuals pleaded guilty. While the court indictment refers to revenues of £28m generated by the fraud, some estimates put the total at £770m.

Our investigation found that Octmedia was founded in 2016 by two firms based in the Seychelles - a so-called 'secrecy jurisdiction' where company owners can eschew public registers. The following year, new UK regulations made it mandatory for SLPs to disclose their owners.

But Octmedia simply named another SLP, Johnson and Brothers LP, as its owner - a legal loophole used to avoid disclosing the names of individuals. Johnson and Brothers - also registered at the Granton Terrace flat as a SLP - was itself owned by a pair of Seychelles companies during the fraud operation.

However, leaked Pandora Papers files, obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and ...

For the past year, The Ferret has been working on a major project investigating finance called The Money Trail, and the next part of our series will be published on Sunday with more to come that week.

From dark money, to Scottish Limited Partnerships, to the controversial ownership of land and property, Scotland plays host to a range of illicit finance risks.

So, scrutiny is vital to ensure that money does not flow to Scotland's politics without careful monitoring, and that individuals, companies and states from around the world cannot store their wealth and dirty money in Scottish land, property and companies without it being a matter of public record.

Lifting the lid on illicit finance issues requires rigorous investigative journalism, and despite legal threats we've published more than a dozen investigations to date.

Land, property, and lots of money

As part of our investigation series, we vetted hundreds of offshore-owned properties with foreign owners, unmasking landowners including a Cairngorms businessman linked to an £800m money laundering and fraud scam, and a Canadian government body with an alleged history of tax avoidance.

Using leaked Paradise Papers files, made available to The Ferret by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, we revealed that the top political donor to two political parties, senior bankers, a House of Lords peer, and football legend, Ally McCoist, were among secret owners of a tax haven firm behind an elite Scottish golf club.

The story prompted renewed calls from campaigners for the UK Government to force overseas British territories to provide public registers revealing the beneficial owners of firms registered there.

We also unveiled the offshore firms, politicians, and billionaires who received hefty taxpayer forestry handouts. They included the King, J.K. Rowling, and some who have broken rules around public subsidies. The top recipient was a Guernsey resident whose spouse admitted leaving the UK for the Channel Isles to avoid tax.

Revealed: The secret owners of elite Scots golf club

Political finance

Ahead of the 2024 UK General Election, we analysed thousands of donation records spanning three years, revealing the funders linked to dark money, tax havens, climate change denial, and the blacklisting of trade unionists.

Post-election, we vetted the business and financial interests of all new MPs, revealing the prevalence of landlords, and highlighting the hypocritical investments of politicians. And for good measure, we scrutinised Scottish members of the House of Lords to find out how much they cost the taxpayer, the amount they've claimed in expenses, and how active each member has been.

Revealed: A quarter of Scots MPs own multiple homes

Scottish Limited Partnerships

Our next two reports will focus on Scottish Limited Partnerships (SLPs) - legal entities that have proven controversial over the past decade. They are used by thousands of legitimate businesses - but some have been used by money launderers, tax evaders and fraudsters, prompting calls for reform to laws to crackdown on criminality.

Our latest investigation into SLP's took us to the west end of Glasgow, and Muirhouse, Edinburgh - a housing estate in Scotland's capital made famous by author and former resident, Irvine Welsh, who immortalised the area in his 1993 novel, Trainspotting.

So, if you want to find out what links working class Muirhouse to the Seychelles and Swiss bank accounts, look out for our special investigation on Sunday.

This work has been made possible by funding from the Joffe Trust. But we want to do more of it so please become a member of The Ferret today and support independent, investigative journalism in the public interest.

Yours,

Billy Briggs and Jamie Mann

The Ferret is an independent, investigative journalism cooperative dedicated to holding power to account. Since 2015, we have reported on corruption, environmental issues, human rights, and political influence in Scotland. Our w...