The former boss of a campaign to raise £15 million for a new children's hospital is alleged to have faked a £26.40 mileage claim over a meeting with a leading businessman that he says did not take place.
Elaine McGonigle, 50, is claimed to have submitted the bill for the cost of driving to see Donald Macdonald, the chairman and biggest shareholder of the Macdonald Hotels chain.
Mrs McGonigle, of Errol, Perthshire, faced Mr Macdonald from the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court as the businessman gave evidence at her trial.
She denies 13 charges of making false expenses worth £1855 as the director of the New Pyjamas campaign, which was raising funds for a new Royal Hospital For Sick Children in Edinburgh.
Mr Macdonald, 67, of Dunblane, Perthshire, told the court he had never made any donations to the hospital, its charities or met Mrs McGonigle as she had claimed on April 28, 2009.
The businessman had, however, met her previously when she worked for the Princess Royal Trust For Carers (PRTFC). He told the court there had been no contact between them since shortly after she left in 2007.
He said: "I had a lot of admiration for Elaine because she was very good at her job, very polished."
Asked about a statement he gave to police in 2011 following a claim by Mrs McGonigle that she visited him in his home, Mr Macdonald said that whatever Mrs McGonigle had said "the answer is 'no'".
He added: "I have not laid eyes on Elaine, since she left the PRTFC until this morning".
Businesswoman Ann Rushforth, 55, said Mrs McGonigle had been "very capable, efficient, hard-working and successful."
However, Mrs Rushforth, who is director of nursing at Scots Nursing, said she had no recollection of having dinner with Mrs McGonigle at the Western House Hotel, Ayr, in March 2009.
Mrs McGonigle charged the hospital charity £60 for accommodation.
The trial was adjourned until next week.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article