Council told to justify big payoff to chief

A LOCAL authority that handed a senior manager at the centre of several costly fiascos a £500,000 pay-off will have to justify the deal, the Scottish Government has claimed.

South Lanarkshire Council gave its £127,000-a-year head of finance Linda Hardie a severance package of £500,000, sparking claims the deal was "obscene".

Mrs Hardie was at the helm when the council lost around £100,000 in a bank details fraud and presided over a major blunder when cuts needed by the council were over-estimated by £38 million, after which she went on paid leave.

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