The Ferret headlines

A Scottish Government quango spent £175,000 on 'coaching' for its bosses in two years, despite a stretched budget and questions over its performance.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) spent an average of £7,000 a month on executive coaching between 2022 and 2024, a freedom of information request has shown.

The money was splashed out on sessions delivered by an Edinburgh-based firm called Discovery Coaching Limited.

It is run by Jonathan Frost, a consultant who has authored books on business including 'When Zebras Discover Motorbikes' about how to "influence people, situations and results".

Politicians have branded the spending by the green watchdog "absurd" and said it was a "prime example of the SNP's bloated and wasteful quango culture".

Sepa said its spending on coaching reflects its commitment to "continuous improvement" and had gone through the appropriate tender process.

The money has all been spent since Nicole Paterson took over as Sepa's chief executive in late 2022.

At a time when Scotland is seeing tens of thousands of sewage dumping incidents every year, Nicole Paterson should set out exactly what performance benefits the public are seeing for their £175,000.

Alex Cole Hamilton, Scottish Liberal Democrats

It paid for over 40 members of Sepa's "wider leadership cohort" to take part in "leadership development work", the freedom of information response notes.

Paterson herself is paid over £125,000 a year and is one of five senior staff members on a six-figure salary.

Discovery Coaching lists big businesses among its clients, including Scottish Power and Edinburgh Airport.

Jonathan Frost claims to have worked with "literally hundreds of managers and directors" and coined the term 'thinknosis'- the practice of "guiding people into a state of deeper thought, focus and concentration".

Sepa has faced criticism over its performance including for failing to seek prosecutions of those who have broken environmental rules.

Prosecutions of polluters after reports by the regulator dropped from 18 a year to zero between 2014 and 2023. That's despite the number of complaints about pollution by the public rising over that period.

'Licence to pollute'? Prosecutions of environmental rule-breakers plummet

Sepa has seen its budget shrink by more than a quarter in real terms since 2010, analysis by The Ferret has found.

The leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Alex Cole Hamilton, told The Ferret that while public sector organisations need to "invest in skills and training" the amount spent on the coaching looked "absurd".

He added: "Taxpayers will be wondering whether Sepa is letting senior staff pad their CVs or whether it simply hired poorly in the first place.

"At a time when Scotland is seeing tens of thousands of sewage dumping incidents every year, Nicole Paterson should set out exactly what performance benefits the public are seeing for their £175,000."

The Scottish Labour MSP, Monica Lennon, claimed "extravagant spending on senior executives while frontline staff, the public and the environment get left behind has become too common under the SNP".

Lennon added: "Ultimately, Scotland's environment watchdog must stand up to the big polluters wrecking our environment and that can only happen if the SNP's budget is fair and Sepa's leadership spends it wisely."

Scottish Conservatives finance spokesperson, Craig Hoy MSP, claimed the public would be "rightly angry" to be paying for coaching for senior executives.

Hoy said: "This is a prime example of the SNP's bloated and wasteful quango culture."

This is a prime example of the SNP's bloated and wasteful quango culture.

Craig Hoy MSP, Scottish Conservatives

A spokesperson for Sepa noted a programme to "enhance leadership capability and capacity" was agreed as part of its "organisational reset" in 2023 and paid for by "savings" within the leadership team.

They added: "Like other public bodies, investing in leadership coaching reflects our commitment to continuous ...

The man behind a conspiracy theory cited by white supremacists and mass murderers has been booked as a conference speaker by a far right political party led by a Scot.

Renaud Camus - who coined the term "the great replacement" - has top billing at an upcoming Homeland Party conference which will explore the idea of removing "illegal, unintegrated, and unwelcome migrants" from the UK.

The French author first used the term in a 2011 book, arguing it was the "replacement of a people, the indigenous French people, by one or others; of its culture by the loss of its cultural identity through multiculturalism."

Camus' idea of the "great replacement" has since spread beyond France and inspired far right groups who claim Europe's white majority is being replaced with Muslim people of colour in collusion with a left-wing, globalist elite.

Camus is now due to visit Britain next month as a guest of the Homeland Party, a political group active in Scotland that says nationalism should be based on land and the "law of blood" - which means membership of a nation is defined by ancestry rather than political decisions.

Far right group Homeland registers as political party despite objections

Party chair, Kenny Smith, Homeland's de-facto leader, is from the Isle of Lewis and formed Homeland in 2023 after leading a breakaway faction from Patriotic Alternative, another far right group.

Camus' UK trip comes as a report revealed there was a 73 per cent increase in Islamophobic assaults last year in the UK, amid fears the "great replacement" conspiracy theory is spreading.

Critics of the term include anti-racism group Hope not Hate which said it has been "used to justify racism and even terrorism across the globe". The Scottish Greens said the theory has been "pushed by some of the most extreme and racist conspiracy theorists of the fringes" and it is "having a terrible real world impact".

Camus did not reply to a request for a comment but has previously condemned violence. The Homeland Party defended the French author and said he has "consistently promoted peaceful discourse and democratic solutions" and that he "cannot be blamed for the actions of individuals who have cited his work".

In the most extreme cases, the great replacement has been used to justify the murder of non-whites. Converts include the white supremacist who named his manifesto after the theory and killed 51 people during 2019 attacks on New Zealand mosques.

The theory has also been cited by those behind attacks in the US, including the murders of 11 people at a Pennsylvania synagogue in 2018, 23 people at a Texas supermarket in 2019, and 10 people at a New York grocery store in 2022.

While Camus was fined by the French government in 2014 for inciting racial hatred against Muslims and north African immigrants, whom he called "thugs" and "colonisers," he has disavowed terrorism, which he branded as "practices of the occupants".

Whether they are calling themselves Homeland, Patriotic Alternative or anything else for that matter, the vile beliefs they stand for have no place in our politics.

Maggie Chapman MSP, Scottish Greens

Far from being confined to the lexicon of fringe extremists, his theory has been promoted by far right political leaders around the world. They include US president Donald Trump, and the respective Italian and Hungarian prime ministers, Giorgia Meloni and Viktor Orbán. It has also been used by Trump's "special government employee", billionaire Elon Musk.

Closer to home, the great replacement has been embraced by far right groups including the Homeland Party, which opposes "mass immigration" and whose activists delivered leaflets on the issue last month to homes in Glasgow and Inverurie.

The party - which has denounced violence - recently announced its booking of Camus to speak at its "Big Remigration" conference in England in April. The event focuses on its aim to "facilitate and encourage" the return of "illegal, unintegrated, and unwelcome migrants" to thei...

Almost 600 incidents of self-harming were reported at Addiewell - Scotland's only private prison - in less than four years, almost double that of any other Scottish jail.

The number of incidents, revealed in a freedom of information request, were for self-harm by cutting, which is associated with emotional distress and poor mental health and wellbeing.

In total Addiewell recorded 590 incidents from January 2021 until the end of August 2024, an average of 13 every month. Critics said the figures should raise alarm bells and called for action.

The prison, run by outsourcing company Sodexo, has been subject to serious concerns about violence, and high levels of deaths in custody. Last year more prisoners died in Addiewell than at any other prison.

Earlier this week The Ferret revealed that despite paying penalties to the Scottish Prison Service due to failure to meet agreed standards, Addiewell Limited - the company that owns it - has paid more than £3m to shareholders in less than two years.

Private prison profits: Addiewell pays £3m to shareholders amid safety fears and rising deaths

A spokesperson for the prison said it was "subject to the same range of intensive scrutiny as all prisons" and was "building on progress" made to improve the prison's safety and operation record.

Healthcare at the prison is delivered by NHS Lothian. The health board also serves HMP Edinburgh. That prison logged 208 incidents of self-harm by cutting over the time period - the third highest according to the data.

NHS Lothian has been asked to comment. The Scottish Prison Service said it worked hard to keep prisoners safe and supported.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats, who obtained the figures, said Scotland's approach to imprisonment was "failing" and called for action.

Distressed prisoners made 13,000 calls to Samaritans in six months

Justice spokesperson for the party Liam McArthur MSP added: "Huge numbers of people, many with complex problems, are being sent to a place proven to increase their likelihood of reoffending and where incidents of self-harm are on the rise.

"Addiewell prison has been a magnet for such behaviour with regular reports of assaults and self-harm. Prisons can be a pressure cooker but the government has a responsibility to ensure high safety standards are maintained across the entire prison estate."

He claimed a "properly-funded justice system that also includes greater use of robust and effective community sentences", was needed, striking a balance between punishment and rehabilitation "in order to reduce reoffending and make communities safer."

Despite fears being raised about safety at Addiewell prison, its most recent report from the Scottish prison inspectorate commended management for making progress towards improving the jail. However the prison continued to score a red rating - indicating serious concerns - for health and wellbeing.

Highest level of self-harm annually

The self harm figures show that in the first eight months of 2024 there were 110 incidents of self-harm by cutting recorded at Addiewell.

Most other prisons did not give exact figures, but reported having fewer than five incidents (<5) in many of the months of last year. But the next highest appears to be HMP Kilmarnock with a maximum of 55 incidents in 2024. Kilmarnock was formerly run by private company Serco but handed back to the Scottish Prison Service in March.

Figures for 2023 show 203 incidents of cutting at Addiewell, almost 2.5 the next highest number. That year a whistleblower shared reports with The Ferret which suggested mental health and addiction support were often hard to access or had long waiting lists.

The annual number of reported incidents of cutting in 2021 and 2022 were also significantly higher than the numbers recorded at other prisons.

Sarah Armstrong, a Glasgow University professor of criminology who researches deaths in custody, said: "Addiewell saw more people dying in 2024 than in Barlinnie, a prison of much greater size. T...

Over the last year, The Ferret has been investigating the so-called 'culture war'.

We have looked at how disinformation and conspiracies have entered the mainstream debate around issues that have been dragged into the cultural conflict. We have also looked at the real world impacts of online discourse around misogyny.

As part of our investigation, we have highlighted links between organisations across the globe, and examined how populist groups and powerful think-tanks and funders are helping to spread 'culture war' viewpoints in the UK and Scotland.

From the powerful think-tank behind Donald Trump's presidential agenda, and the private university funded by Hungarian populist Viktor Orbán, to events, campaign groups and media organisations pushing agendas in the UK, we have mapped the way these organisations overlap and intersect.

To illustrate some of these connections, we have put together an interactive map highlighting how these groups connect and help to influence each other, and where the key hotspots are in Scotland, the wider UK, Europe and the US.

Tap on the arrows at the top of the map and read the captions to explore some of the global connections in the culture war.

Note: This map works best on a desktop or laptop computer.

Tap the link to view the map in a separate page.

Reform UK's Richard Tice boasted putting solar panels on his company's properties could help tenants with their bills - despite publicly claiming people are being "ripped off" by the renewables industry.

In a speech last week, Tice, Reform's deputy leader, pledged that if it wins the next election the party would impose new taxes on the renewable industry which he called "a massive con".

He said there was a "direct link" between higher electricity prices and the growth of renewable energy generation.

But Tice has been accused of "blatant hypocrisy" because his company has fitted solar panels and electric car charging stations at commercial properties it owns in England.

"These initiatives will save hundreds of tonnes of CO2 every year and help our occupiers with lower electricity bills than they might otherwise have to pay, as well as provide an attractive return for shareholders," Tice wrote in the 2022 annual report for Quidnet REIT, a real estate firm in which he is the largest shareholder.

Critics claimed The Ferret's finding showed Reform's "performative" opposition to renewables was "more about scoring culture war points than genuinely helping British households".

Tice claimed he had "always said unsubsidised solar panels on roofs can make sense for the homeowner or business tenant".

"It cuts out middlemen via the grid," the Boston and Skegness MP told The Ferret. "What does not make sense is gobbling up productive farmland and subsidising renewables as that drives up electricity bills."

This is just another example of the party's performative 'war on net zero', more about scoring culture war points than genuinely helping British households.

Dr Will Stronge, The Autonomy Institute

The solar panels appear to have been lucrative for Quidnet REIT.

The firm makes most of its money from collecting rent, but its 2023 accounts note that it has cashed in on the sale of energy to tenants and the electricity grid.

Income from activities other than rent increased from around £5,000 in 2022 - when the solar panels were being installed - to over £150,000 in 2023.

Tice is not the only Reform politician with interests in renewables.

Great Yarmouth MP, Rupert Lowe, has installed solar panels on his farm. He also owns a company which installs renewable systems and says that "local, carbon-neutral generation of energy is much cheaper than buying gas-powered electricity".

In his speech, Tice said net zero policies were to blame for higher energy bills and the argument that renewables would make energy cheaper was a "lie" because of subsidies paid to the sector.

However a rise in wholesale gas prices was the main cause of the recent energy crisis which sent bills soaring.

It's gas prices that have sent our bills through the roof, not renewables.

Mel Evans, Greenpeace

Energy bills in the UK do include 'green levies' which help pay for projects like renewables and home insulation.

Some experts argue that green levies on bills are regressive because poorer households spend a larger proportion of their income on them, and have suggested moving them to general taxation.

But supporters say scrapping them completely could hamper the rollout of home insulation and renewables projects and leave the UK reliant on foreign gas, which can fluctuate in price.

They argue this could drive bills up further, while critics have claimed Reform's tax plans could cause energy costs to "skyrocket".

Greenpeace described Reform's proposals as a "jumble of misinformation and gaslighting" which would "allow Big Oil bosses to rake in even more billions in profits".

"It's gas prices that have sent our bills through the roof, not renewables," the group's head of climate issues, Mel Evans, said. "Reform's quack cure will only worsen the disease by making us even more reliant on gas and the dictators controlling its price."

Dr Will Stronge of the climate change research organisation, The Autonomy Institute, accused Tice and Reform of "blatant hypocrisy".

Stronge added:...

The company which owns Scotland's private Addiewell prison has paid more than £3m to shareholders in less than two years despite serious concerns over prisoner and staff safety amid high levels of deaths and violence, The Ferret has found.

In total almost £20m has been paid out in dividends to shareholders since the prison opened in 2008. Yet in half of the years it has been open it has failed to meet agreed Scottish Prison Service standards, paying penalties as a result.

In January a murder inquiry was launched after an Addiewell prisoner was allegedly pushed and fell from a jail landing. He later died from his injuries. Last year there were more deaths at Addiewell, in West Lothian, than in any other Scottish prison.

A third of Addiewell Prison Limited's shares are owned by Soxedo Investment Services and 67 per cent are owned by Infrastructure Investment Holdings, an arm of London investment firm, HICL Infrastructure.

According to accounts for 2024, Addiewell Prison Limited paid over £3m in dividends to the two firms from April 2023 to November 2024.

The prison is run by facilities management company Sodexo under a private public finance (PFI) deal made in 2006 by Scotland's then Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition.

When shareholder payouts are prioritised over basic amenities for inmates, it can have tragic results.

Cat Hobbs, We Own It

Critics said "prisons should never be a place for the pursuit of private profit at the expense of vulnerable people" and said "profit-hungry companies" should have contracts for public services ended.

They claimed "serious issues specific to HMP Addiewell" need to be resolved "with some urgency' and there needed to be greater reinvestment in education, counselling and staffing levels to reduce violence and reoffending.

However, Sodexo said it was "subject to the same range of intensive scrutiny as all prisons" and was "building on progress" made to improve the prison's safety and operation record.

In recent years other serious concerns have been raised about the prison. A damning report published in May 2023 found less than a third of inmates said they felt safe. In reports found "credible" by inspectors, one in four claimed to have been assaulted, or abused by staff. Severe shortages of experienced staff was another issue raised.

In 2023 The Ferret reported that violent assaults were higher at Addiewell than at any other prison. A whistleblower claimed a culture of violence, fear and intimidation was rampant within the prison, and claimed that an inspectorate report painted a "rosy picture" compared with the reality.

Violent assaults increasing at Scotland's troubled private prison

They shared details of violent assaults including in public areas and involving homemade weapons, razor blades or scaldings. One email shared, originally sent by the then prison director, suggested the prison may never have been fully staffed at any point since it opened in 2008.

Addiewell's company accounts show that these failings also had a financial cost. Prison bosses had to pay the Scottish Prison Service £2.7m for failing to meet agreed performance indicators in the last financial year. In total Addiewell limited has paid £9m in fines since 2011.

Despite these fines the Scottish Prison Inspectorate has commended prison management for recent improvements. In its 2024 report inspectors said the level of serious concern had reduced dramatically while acknowledging that its journey to "transformation" was "by no means over".

In 2016 a parliamentary question revealed the prison would end up costing Scottish tax payers nearly £1billion over its 25 year contract - more than 12 times what it cost to build.

Addiewell is now Scotland's only private prison. His Majesty's Prison (HMP) Kilmarnock was formerly run by Serco, another outsourcing company, but was transferred back to the Scottish Prison Service on 17 March 2024.

According to financial journalist and author Ian Fraser the private finance initiative - or...

ScotRail has handed a £2 million contract to its former private owner - claiming the deal will provide "value for taxpayers".

The state-owned rail firm has contracted out its finance and payroll functions to Solvd, a company set up by former owner Abellio - which the Scottish Government stripped of its franchise in 2022 after concerns over poor performance.

ScotRail bosses awarded a two-year extension to Solvd on January 29 without putting the contract out to tender. They believe the move, valued at £1.9 million in the official paperwork, will buy time to work out whether these functions should be carried out in house.

But Scottish Labour transport spokeswoman Claire Baker said private firms were "cashing in on the SNP's incompetence".

She told The Ferret: "Scotland deserves a reliable, affordable rail service but the SNP is squandering the opportunities of public ownership and contracting out its responsibilities."

Just two days after the new contract was confirmed, SNP ministers announced fares would go up by 3.8 per cent this year - following an 8.7 per cent rise a year ago and the reintroduction of peak fares last autumn.

Scotland deserves a reliable, affordable rail service but the SNP is squandering the opportunities of public ownership and contracting out its responsibilities.

Claire Baker, Scottish Labour

Abellio's UK arm is now known as Transport UK, after it was sold by the Dutch state in a management buy-out led by chief executive Dominic Booth. He was ScotRail's ultimate boss before nationalisation.

The contract describes Solvd as a "small to medium-sized enterprise", even though Transport UK's website boasts that it employs 15,000 employees across Britain.

Train drivers' union Aslef, which campaigned for ScotRail to be brought into public ownership, called on ScotRail to "come clean" over continued "profiteering" in the railways since nationalisation.

"Despite its chronic failure to run ScotRail effectively, this revelation shows that in its new guise Abellio is going to still profit from the now publicly owned ScotRail," the union's Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said.

He added: "For ScotRail to be truly public it needs to in-source its operations and end - not extend - these contracts and this type of outsourcing that incredibly allows this failed company to continue to profit from ScotRail, taking money that should be reinvested back into services, and still turning it into shareholder dividends."

Scottish Conservative MSP Sue Webber said: "Nationalisation of ScotRail was justified by the SNP on the basis that they could do a better job than Abellio. So it's humiliating that they are now having to lavish public money on the company in return for supposedly expert advice.

At a time when passengers are paying through the roof for chronically unreliable services, SNP ministers should explain why they think it is acceptable to hand this contract to ScotRail's former owners.

Sue Webber MSP, Scottish Conservatives

She added: "At a time when passengers are paying through the roof for chronically unreliable services, SNP ministers should explain why they think it is acceptable to hand this contract to ScotRail's former owners."

Justifying the decision not to put the contract out to tender, ScotRail said it was introducing a new rostering system that would "take a period of 12-18 months" to implement. It said the "full impact of this change will not be known until the implementation is complete", and that "to tender these services now will result in duplication of resource and cost".

Finance director Derek Marchant said: "In 2023/24, ScotRail built on the successful transition into public ownership with year-on-year growth in passenger numbers and revenue, and with nine out of ten services meeting their punctuality targets.

"All of this has been achieved thanks to our dedicated and highly-skilled workforce that deliver for our customers every single day.

"We recognise that, as part of the public sector, we must ens...

A £4bn project to help replace nuclear-armed Trident submarines on the Clyde has been branded as "unachievable" for the third year running by a UK government watchdog.

The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) has again given the manufacture of new reactors to power replacement submarines its lowest rating of "red" for 2023-24. There are "major issues" that do not seem to be "manageable or resolvable", it said.

The IPA has badged eight other major UK nuclear weapons projects, with a combined overall cost of over £55bn, as "amber". This means they are facing "significant issues" which require "management attention".

These include building new facilities at the Faslane nuclear base, near Helensburgh, and dismantling nuclear submarines at Rosyth in Fife. The construction of the entire future nuclear-powered fleets of submarines - Astute, Dreadnought and Aukus - was also rated amber.

Campaigners attacked the UK nuclear weapons programme as "an unaffordable shambles" and a "disastrous money pit". They have demanded its cancellation, and asked for the money saved to be spent on public services.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) accused the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of being "totally unable" to deliver a cost-effective replacement for Trident on time. The Scottish Greens said that public money shouldn't be wasted on "deadly Cold War hangovers."

The MoD insisted that the Dreadnought programme was "on track" for submarines to start entering service in the "early 2030s". It was working to "improve delivery confidence".

Rolls-Royce, which is making Dreadnought submarine reactors for the MoD, accepted that the work was "challenging". But it said progress was "accelerating" and it was "confident" it could deliver in time.

Trident nuclear project can't be delivered, says watchdog

The IPA's latest report for 2023-24 was published in January 2025, six months late. It assessed the feasibility of 227 major government projects, including 44 run by the MoD with a total cost of £298bn.

Nine of the MoD projects were related to nuclear weapons and submarine programmes, with a total cost of at least £59bn. The one that was given a red rating was to construct reactors to be installed in four Trident-armed Dreadnought submarines to replace ageing Vanguard submarines at Faslane in the 2030s.

The project was also rated as red in 2022-23 and 2021-22, as The Ferret reported. According to the IPA, that means that "successful delivery of the project appears to be unachievable" and it may need its "overall viability reassessed".

It said: "There are major issues with project definition, schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery, which at this stage do not appear to be manageable or resolvable."

The Dreadnought reactors, which are being built by Rolls-Royce in Derby, faced "ongoing challenges associated with achieving the required delivery date" in 2028, the IPA added. This was an "important milestone" for the UK's policy of keeping at least one nuclear-armed submarine on patrol all the time, known as "continuous at sea deterrent".

Among the eight other nuclear projects rated as amber, was a £1.9bn scheme to build new facilities at Faslane and nearby Coulport, on the Clyde, to support new submarines. Its rating was kept secret in 2022-23 and it was red in 2021-22.

Amber is defined by the IPA as: "successful delivery appears feasible but significant issues already exist, requiring management attention". The issues "appear resolvable at this stage" and should not cause delay or increased costs "if addressed promptly".

The Clyde infrastructure project was entering its "most complex phase" over the next four years, the IPA said. It highlighted "two main issues affecting delivery confidence".

One was rebuilding existing facilities while they continue to be used for submarine operations. The other was attracting and retaining suitably skilled staff "to a remote site in a very tight labour market in western Scotland."

Costs of some nuclear projects k...

The new chairman of the Scottish Conservatives led a company which admitted benefitting from "corrupt payments" made to a Russian firm.

Oil drilling multi-national Abbot Group told prosecutors it profited from the transactions which were made in 2007 in relation to a contract to supply oil rigs.

At that time, the new Tory chair Alasdair Locke was executive chairman and a major shareholder of Abbot, which he also founded.

After making the admission to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) in 2012, Abbot - by then under new owners - agreed to pay a £5.6m settlement under Proceeds of Crime legislation, the amount of profit the company said it made from the Russian deal.

Locke - who left Abbot in 2009 - criticised the new owners' decision to admit wrongdoing and "vigorously denies" any payments made by Abbot were corrupt.

But former Labour MSP Neil Findlay said: "The reputation of politics is already at an all time low and here we have the Scottish Tories appointing as their chairman someone whose company had to pay a £5.6m 'settlement' under Proceeds of Crime legislation as a result of a dodgy deal with a Russian oil company.

"Tory leader Russell Findlay's attempt to paint himself as 'Mr Law and Order' will lie in tatters if this appointment stands."

Jolyon Maugham, director of the Good Law Project added: "In a dynamic world, there is so little we can safely rely on. The Catholicism of a new Pope, the ursine preference for wooded areas when nature calls, and the embroilment of senior Tories in bungs for contracts scandals.

"It may seem like everything changes - but some things remain the same."

Locke claimed to The Ferret the payments were actually made to cancel a contract in Russia which an employee in Germany had entered into without the knowledge of Abbot's board.

Abbot was a victim because it had to make payment to get out of the contract which would have been "loss-making" for the company, he said.

The businessman added that police have investigated "thoroughly" and found there was "no case to answer".

Professor Richard Barrington, an expert in anti-corruption who has advised both the private and public sector on bribery issues, said the case "raises all sorts of questions" now that Locke holds a "senior position with a Scottish political party".

A Scottish Conservative spokesperson said: "Mr Locke responded to this 12 years ago. We don't have anything else to add."

Billionaire lairds and Tory donors broke rules around rural subsidies

Locke was appointed Scottish Tory chairman in November and has donated over £1.2m to the party since 2001.

According to COPFS, the payments in 2007 only came to light after they were flagged by an "overseas tax authority" in 2011, prompting an internal investigation within Abbot which was by then under new owners.

Abbot subsequently came forward in 2012 to confess wrongdoing under a self-reporting scheme for bribery set up by COPFS.

Abbot's settlement with the Civil Recovery Unit - which recovers the proceeds of unlawful conduct on behalf of the Scottish Government - meant the company was protected from prosecution.

But when the settlement was first reported in 2012, details of where the payments were made were not released in case there was a criminal investigation into individuals involved.

COPFS has now said the payments were made in connection with a contract entered into by a German subsidiary of Abbot, Bentec Drilling, to "supply drilling rigs to a Russian company". Bentec was wholly owned by Abbot at the time.

A COPFS spokesperson said: "There are no active criminal proceedings and, given the historic nature of the case, it would not be appropriate to comment."

Abbot said in 2012 it was "deeply disappointed" that "improper" payments had taken place and that all personnel involved had left the firm.

After discovering the payments the company commissioned auditors to "review more than one hundred contracts" covering a period of 12 years and none were reported to COPFS....

The King, J.K. Rowling, billionaires and politicians are among those who have been given tens of millions of pounds of taxpayer forestry subsidies, The Ferret can reveal, prompting claims that wealthy landowners are prioritised over rural communities.

Nearly 2,000 recipients, including estates, investment firms and timber giants, were given £240m to create and manage woodlands between April 2016 and December 2024, according to data we obtained from Scottish Forestry.

Top claimants of Scottish Government-issued taxpayer subsidies included the Duke of Buccleuch, a Scots MP, House of Lords peers and the Scottish Tory chairman.

Others were Brewdog, a former Daily Mail chief, the Duke of Westminster, the Church of England, and a past chair of the Scottish Government's investment arm.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing from claimants. But land and forestry campaigners accused the government of financing wealthy landowners rather than rural communities.

The subsidies, alongside a wide range of tax relief and the ability to sell carbon credits, have fuelled surging land prices, and some experts question the environmental benefits of industrial forestry.

But Scottish Forestry said handouts were "a vital driver" of the government's aim to cover 21 per cent of Scotland with trees by 2032 and soak up carbon dioxide (Co2). Half of applications were for smaller woodlands, and big commercial schemes were key to meeting green targets, the agency said.

Billionaire lairds and Tory donors broke rules around rural subsidies

Billionaires, landowners and politicians

Guernsey entrepreneur Julia Hands, who is reportedly worth £250m, received the most in subsidies of any individual - £3.8m. Hands' private equity boss husband, Guy, also owns swathes of Scotland's forests. In 2009, he left the UK for Guernsey, a tax haven, to avoid higher taxes.

WildLand Limited subsidiary, Glenfeshie Limited, was handed £1.5m. The firms belong to billionaire Anders Povlsen, Scotland's biggest landowner and wealthiest person.

WildLand CEO Tim Kirkwood said the funding, alongside the firm's own investment, focused on planting native trees to support "nature recovery", "national climate change and biodiversity goals", and new "economic and social opportunities" for local communities.

Fellow billionaire Mahdi Al Tajir's Blackford Farms was given £1.3m. It is owned in the tax haven of Liechtenstein and last year overclaimed and misused public subsidies.

The Duke of Buccleuch's Buccleuch Group, whose subsidiaries received £3.1m, told The Ferret it is playing a "key role" in helping the Scottish Government meet its annual target of increasing woodlands by 18,000 hectares.

Kinnaird Estate's co-owner, Crawford Gillies - a Barclays director and former chairman of government investment arm, Scottish Enterprise - netted £938,000, while Charles Sinclair, the former chief of a trust behind the Daily Mail, got £865,000.

Care home moved to spare view from billionaire's hotel

Dornells Estate, which claimed £1.3m, belongs to James Jack, brother of the former Tory Scottish Secretary, Alister Jack. He also is also a controller of the Annandale and Lochwood Estates partnership, which was awarded £746,000, but broke the rules by overclaiming or failing to start subsidised activity.

The partnership said Jack was involved in his capacity as a trustee of the Raehills Trust. "He is neither a beneficiary nor an owner of any of the properties or businesses within the partnership," it added. Other listed partners include the Earl of Annandale and Hartfell and his son, David, a NatureScot board member.

Landowning politicians in receipt of subsidies include millionaire Lib Dem MP, Angus MacDonald via Doughty Hill (£1.85m), former Tory MSP and shadow land reform secretary, Lord Donald Cameron, via Achnacarry Estate (£560,000), and Tory lord and former environment minister Baron Robbie Douglas Miller via Bavelaw Estate (£512,000).

Glenrinnes Farms' owner Alasdair Locke, received £238,000. He gave...