A parliamentary report into a former college principal accused of accepting a "vastly excessive" severance payment has been passed to police.

MSPs also called on John Doyle, the former principal of Coatbridge College, in North Lanarkshire, to repay part of his £304,000 deal.

And in a case that was described as an "appalling abuse of the public purse", the report also criticised the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) which was responsible for overseeing the merger process.

The report was published after an inquiry by the Scottish Parliament's public audit committee into severance payments at the college.

Mr Doyle and other senior managers shared £850,000 in pay-offs as part of a severance package when the college merged with two others in 2013 to form New College Lanarkshire.

Last summer, Auditor General Caroline Gardner issued a highly-critical report of the severance deal to Mr Doyle - who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

The committee also agreed with Ms Gardner's view that John Gray, the chair of the former college, colluded with Mr Doyle "to get the result they wanted" by "withholding relevant information from the college’s remuneration committee" which approved the payment.

Paul Martin, convener of the committee, said: "There is a compelling moral argument for John Doyle to repay the tens of thousands of pounds extra he received from the college.

“The Scottish Government provided more than £52 million between 2011/12 and 2013/14 to support the college merger process and most of that money was used to fund voluntary severance schemes.

“It was not provided, however, to allow already highly-paid public servants to feather their own nests at the expense of their colleagues and of their students’ education."

Mr Martin said evidence sessions of the committee "demonstrated clearly" that Mr Doyle’s severance payment was "engineered through a process of misinformation and disregard for existing guidelines and process".

He added: “We found smokescreens where we should have found spotlights, distractions when we wanted directness. Behind it all lies an appalling abuse of the public purse. There simply was no business case for the former principal to receive the level of severance payment he received.

“Given the nature of much of the evidence we received, we are providing Police Scotland with a copy of this report to enable it to consider what action might be appropriate

“We very much hope that all our report is accepted and action is taken to ensure that situations such as this one simply do not happen again.

“Given the nature of much of the evidence we received, we are providing Police Scotland with a copy of this report to enable it to consider what action might be appropriate."

A Police Scotland spokesman said: "Officers have discussed the matter with Audit Scotland and it is under review."

The committee has also called for the college governance task group, led by ministers, to take action to ensure something similar could not happen again.

The Herald: The former Coatbridge College in Lanarkshire is at the centre of an investigation into severance packages made to senior managers.

The former Coatbridge College, in North Lanarkshire

There was also criticism of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), which oversaw the college merger process.

The report said: "Given the significant governance and oversight failings, the Scottish Government must look at the operation of the SFC and the effectiveness of its supervisory role."

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Tavish Scott called for an urgent review of the role of the SFC.

He said: "There was a litany of failures that allowed the system to be abused.

"The checks and balances that were in place clearly did not prevent the paying out of hundreds of thousands of pounds which left the college in the red.

“We knew that SNP mergers have seen funding slashed and the number of student places plummet at many colleges across Scotland.

"What this sorry episode reveals is that it also helped lead to failures of governance and created the space for unscrupulous individuals to line their pockets at the expense of students."

Laurence Howells, chief executive of the SFC, defended its role and said the governance arrangements at Coatbridge had been "appalling".

He added: We made the chair, principal and board aware of what was expected of them and they did not heed that advice.

"However, we accept that, as outlined in the report, there are lessons to be learnt for SFC and we will take these on board.

"To that end we are already working with the Cabinet Secretary’s task force and will continue to work with the Scottish Government."

Shona Struthers, chief executive of sector body Colleges Scotland said: "What happened at Coatbridge College in 2014 is totally unacceptable and, sadly, undermines the very valuable contribution that colleges make to society every day across the length and breadth of Scotland.

"We are confident that processes are now more robust and this sort of incident will not be repeated."