FORMER First Minister Henry McLeish has been quizzed over his expenses as chair of a powerful colleges board.
Mr McLeish, who heads up the Glasgow Colleges Regional Board, over-claimed his expenses by £140 last year.
The Scottish Funding Council (SFC), which regulates the payments, queried three separate incidents where Mr McLeish claimed car mileage for journeys when he had actually taken the train.
An SFC statement said: "In May 2014, Mr McLeish submitted an expenses claim for April 2014, of £695. Following scrutiny through our internal system, Mr McLeish was asked to review the April expenses claim.
"The query related to mileage claimed for travel by car to three meetings when Mr McLeish was known to have travelled by train.
"Mr McLeish subsequently reviewed the claim and resubmitted a revised claim of £555 confirming that he had travelled by train on those occasions queried."
A spokesman for the Glasgow Colleges Regional Board said the over-claim had been down to an administrative mistake.
"As soon as the payments were queried they were checked and there was found to be an administrative error," he said. "This was quickly resolved to the satisfaction of all those involved."
Mr McLeish resigned as First Minister in 2001 after getting into a "muddle" over expenses at his constituency office in Glenrothes.
The then Central Fife MSP said he took "full personal responsibility" for the mistakes which had been made over the sub-letting of the office although he stressed he had not made any personal gain..
The expenses error came as a powerful struggle for control over the board emerged between Mr McLeish and the SFC which does not think enough progress has been made in Glasgow following a number of college mergers.
xref page 3 please
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