THE chief executive of the Scottish Police Authority is embroiled in a row over the destruction of documents which referred to a former board member as a “one-trick diversity pony”.
According to emails obtained by The Herald, Moi Ali asked for documents which contained the offending remarks about her in 2015, but she was told by CEO John Foley they had been “securely disposed of”.
Ms Ali, who was the only SPA board member from an ethnic minority background, quit the watchdog earlier this year over current chairman Andrew Flanagan’s plans for less openness at the watchdog.
The fall-out from the row led to hearings at Holyrood’s Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny committee, which heard oral evidence from Ms Ali last week.
Although large parts of the session focused on her resignation, Ms Ali told MSPs about a matter that occurred on the watch of Mr Flanagan’s predecessor, Vic Emery. She said: “I had asked for information when the [former] chair had said that I was a one-trick diversity pony.”
Ms Ali continued: “On three occasions, I asked for that information but was told that I could not have it.”
Asked by an MSP who the author of the “disgusting statement” was, she said: “The previous chair.” She added thatthe information was destroyed and claimed it had been disposed of after she had asked for it.
Emails seen by this newspaper reveal that Ms Ali did ask for documents relating to the “one trick” comment, but she was not able to obtain them.
When Ms Ali contacted Mr Foley in July 2015, he responded in an email. He wrote: “I requested these documents from the [former] chair. He has advised me that that the documents which he read from were his working documents and that they were subsequently securely disposed of. 
“As I told you in our conversation last week, I have never seen the documents to which you are referring (as you would expect) and as such I can’t personally advise of their content.”
Ms Ali wrote thatshe was “disappointed” with Mr Foley’s response.
There is no suggestion Mr Foley was involved in the destruction of the documents, but SNP MSP Alex Neil said: “If I had been the chief executive, and my chair had made a remark like that, I would be taking it very seriously because it is a totally unacceptable remark. 
“It goes against the grain of the whole philosophy of what we were told Police Scotland and the SPA are all about.
“I would have investigated to find out if the chair had much such a remark, either orally or in writing, and then taken appropriate 
steps. 
“The chief executive should have taken appropriate action at the time because clearly he is the accountable officer.”
Tory justice spokesman Douglas Ross said: “This is yet another example of the grubby inner workings of the SPA – an organisation that has been operating without any proper accountability or scrutiny.”
A spokesman for the SPA said: “Moi Ali’s request for information was received and appropriate inquiries were made to source and provide the information available at that time.”