The mother of a bankrupt tycoon who donated more than £1 million to the Tories is herself facing financial ruin after she tried to meet her son's debts.
Malcolm Scott's 74 year-old mother Florence faces a sequestration hearing this month after she signed a £10m "personal guarantee" relating to her son's obligations.
Until recently, Scott had the status of being the Conservatives' biggest donor north of the Border.
Through a combination of corporate and personal donations, he poured about £1.6m into the party over the course of a decade.
The grain and property tycoon was also Scottish Tory treasurer and heavily tipped for a peerage.
However, his business empire collapsed earlier this year after he failed to pay back millions of pounds borrowed from banks.
His firms were put into administration after owing over £10m to Societe Generale, Barclays and Lloyds.
He was then sequestrated, the Scottish word for bankruptcy, amid debts of £4m, about £3.7m of which was due to the Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Limited.
Edinburgh law firm Tods Murray LLP was also owed £177,546.
His catastrophic fall appeared complete when his nine-bedroom mansion in Kirknewton – on which he spent more than £2m on gardening – had to be put on the market.
As Scott's businesses began to fall through the floor, his parents tried to help him. His father David, 76, last year signed a "personal guarantee" regarding £10m of his son's obligations, and Florence Scott did likewise in January.
However, according to a legal document lodged at Registers of Scotland, Scott's mother is now facing bankruptcy.
A court date of August 30 has been set at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, at which she can contest the sequestration petition.
Legal documents give the parents' address as a house in Barnton Avenue in Edinburgh.
Last December, ownership of the property transferred from the Scotts to a newly-created firm called Barnton Trustees Ltd. This company then took out a standard security from Investec Bank (Channel Islands) Limited.
The bankruptcy moves comes as creditors and administrators attempt to get to the bottom of how Scott spent his millions, and whether any of it is still left.
Other than funding the Tories, Scott donated generously to the Princes Trust, bought a jet, and purchased lucrative properties, including a hotel in the Courchevel ski resort.
It is also understood he may also have bought a yacht.
According to a report by one of the administrators, Ernst & Young, enquiries are ongoing into the whereabouts of two rugs worth nearly £50,000 and a deal involving the sale of about 18,000 tonnes of barley.
A spokesman for Ernst & Young said: "We're not in a position to provide any further comment at the moment as we believe it may compromise the investigations."
Labour MP Graeme Morrice said: "It is essential that Mr Scott gives a full account of how he spent the millions of pounds lent to him by the banks, and how much is still left. The Scottish Conservatives must also give an assurance that this individual, who allowed David Cameron and William Hague to use his private jet, will play no role in the party until his creditors get their money back."
An SNP spokesperson said: "Another week, another donor headache for the Scottish Tories. Their former treasurer is being pursued for an explanation from creditors and administrators as to what happened to his fortune, and he must co-operate fully.
"But if this is the manner in which he conducts his own personal finances, there are surely serious questions for the Scottish Tories as to how he was conducting their financial affairs."
Neither Malcolm nor Florence Scott could be contacted.
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: "Malcolm Scott has no role within the party and this is a private matter for him."
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