AN SNP council candidate is facing a formal ethics hearing over a property deal involving her MSP father, the Herald can reveal.
Marina Lyle, who is standing for re-election to North Lanarkshire Council next month, has been summoned to appear before the Standards Commission for Scotland.
The June hearing follows a complaint that Ms Lyle failed to declare her part-ownership of a house in Motherwell occupied by Richard Lyle, the SNP MSP for Uddingston & Bellshill.
Mr Lyle and his wife Marion gifted the two-story terraced home to Ms Lyle and her brother Vincent for “love, favour and affection” in a 50:50 split in March 2012.
Based on local property prices, each half is worth around £40,000.
Mr and Mrs Lyle remain in the home as “life renters” - free to use it but no longer able to sell it.
Two months after the transfer, Marina Lyle was elected as an SNP councillor in Bellshill, in the seat previously held by her father.
Under Section 4.18 of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct, councillors must publicly register an interest when they “own or have any other right or interest in houses, land and buildings, such as being an owner or a tenant, including Council tenant”.
However Ms Lyle’s £40,000 stake in the family home was never declared on her council register of interests.
Ms Lyle lives in a council house in in North Lanarkshire - tenants are also required to declare if they own property.
After the Herald’s sister paper, the Sunday Herald, first revealed the arrangement in August, Richard Lyle confidently predicted his daughter would be exonerated.
Blaming SNP infighting for a “fundamentally wrong” accusation, he said Ms Lyle had been advised by the council’s head of legal services that the property need not be declared.
He told a local newspaper: “Council and parliament officials were told of this arrangement at the time and we consulted them again this week when it was suggested we had done wrong. Their advice remains the same - that the property need not be declared by Marina.”
However the Standards Commission, which has the power to censure and suspend councillors for rule breaches, only holds hearings if it believes there is a case to answer.
Last week it ruled against another SNP councillor for failing to register paid employment on time.
Rosa Zambonini, who recently dropped out the North Lanarkshire election blaming smears and sexism, declared her job as office manager for MSP James Dornan six weeks late.
The Commission accepted there was “no intent to conceal information” but said the rule on registering paid work was “an integral part and absolute requirement” of the Councillors’ Code.
Ms Lyle did not respond to requests for comment.
However her father said he was confident she would be cleared.
The MSP said he was also the subject of a complaint over the house, but had been cleared by the Commission as he could prove Holyrood officials told him he need not register it.
He said: “I could swear on a stack of bibles that my daughter was given the same advice at the time. Her problem is that the officer who gave her that advice no longer works for the council.”
An SNP spokesperson: “Cllr Lyle registered her interests in line with advice given by council officials at the time and is confident that the situation will be resolved.”
A Labour spokesman said: “The SNP in Lanarkshire is becoming a real embarrassment for Nicola Sturgeon. Between fighting among themselves and pushing for another referendum on Scotland leaving the UK, it's clear the SNP isn't fit to focus on the day job."
A Commission spokeswoman said: “The allegation against Cllr Lyle is that she contravened the Councillors’ Code of Conduct (specifically paragraph 4.18 and 4.19) by failing to include in her Register of Interests her alleged joint ownership of a property in Motherwell.”
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