Scotland's second-richest woman and well-known charity campaigner Ann Gloag has told a court she never met the director of a fundraising drive because she was in Kenya looking after her son who was in intensive care.
Mrs Gloag, 71, who set up the Stagecoach bus firm with brother Brian Souter and is reported to have a personal fortune of some £500 million, was giving evidence at the trial of Elaine McGonigle, the fundraising campaign director of the New Pyjamas charity.
Ms McGonigle, 50, of Errol, Perthshire, is appearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, where she has denied 13 charges of fraudulently claiming £1,855 in expenses for travel and meetings with various prominent people, between September 22, 2008, and March 5, 2010.
McGonigle has claimed she met Mrs Gloag on May 23, 2009.
New Pyjamas was part of a campaign by the Sick Kids Friends Foundation to raise funds towards the building of a new Royal Hospital For Sick Children, Edinburgh.
The court heard Ms McGonigle claimed expenses of £75.15 for mileage and food for attending a meeting with Mrs Gloag on May 23, 2009.
Mrs Gloag, of Perth, told Fiscal Depute Pauline Shade she vaguely remembered seeing Ms McGonigle at a meeting of the Princess Royal Trust For Carers of which she (Gloag) was a trustee, in 2006 or 2007. Ms McGonigle, she said, was part of a team.
Ms Shade asked if she had ever met Ms McGonigle directly. Mrs Gloag replied: "No."
Mrs Gloag agreed she had been questioned over the phone by a police officer in June 2011 in connection with investigations involving the New Pyjamas Campaign.
The Fiscal asked: "Were you giving him truthful answers?"
Mrs Gloag replied: "Of course. Why not?".
Ms Shade questioned if the officer had asked her about particular dates regarding Elaine McGonigle.
Mrs Gloag said: "Yes. If I had met Elaine McGonigle on May 23, 2009."
She then told Sheriff Douglas Allan: "My son broke his neck in Kenya on May 17 and I flew to Kenya on May 18. I was there for over three weeks because my son was in intensive care. I absolutely know where I was at that particular time."
The Fiscal asked: "If it was suggested that on May 23 you had a meeting with Elaine McGonigle, what would you say?".
Mrs Gloag replied: "Impossible."
The Fiscal: "You were out of the country on May 23?"
Mrs Gloag: "Absolutely."
The trial has previously heard from businessman Jim McColl who said he could not have had dinner with Ms McGonigle as he was at his "home from home in Monaco".
One of the claims made by Ms McGonigle was for £70.40 for a meeting with Mr McColl and Jack McConnell - a meal date that the former First Minister previously denied ever took place.
The trial continues.
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