THE Scottish Government has been called on to investigate a high-profile publicly funded charity at the centre of a row over alleged nepotism.

Catherine Gee was given an executive role at Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) last year – after her husband Derek Robertson became chief executive.

It has emerged that Ms Gee secured another lucrative post when her husband was boss of Liverpool-based charity Groundwork Merseyside (GM) in 2009.

John Wilson, an SNP MSP for Central Scotland, will today contact the Government sector which has allocated more than £15 million of public money a year to KSB, to try to get the probe launched.

Mr Wilson said: "I intend to send a letter to the minister responsible for allocating the funding to Keep Scotland Beautiful to ask them to investigate the allegations and claims fully."

He said the couple should be suspended from their posts pending the investigation.

Concerns surfaced when Ms Gee was hired as KSB's head of corporate services. The post was not externally advertised. She was initially taken on as an "organisational change consultant" in April 2011, the month after her husband started as the charity's CEO. She was later given a fixed-term contract, and was then appointed to the "executive team" post, after being the sole internal applicant.

A KSB source maintains the couple are being smeared by disgruntled ex-employees and there was no wrong-doing in the recruitment process.

Mr Robertson was appointed chief executive of environmental body Groundwork Merseyside (GM), which worked with disadvantaged communities, in 2007. The next year Ms Gee was employed to do consultancy work at the charity. The pair married in the same year and Ms Gee was later hired to a senior GM post. They left the charity in the latter half of 2009.

David McHendry, a former board member at GM, said: "Derek played no part in the process of recruiting Catherine Gee and her appointment was unanimously confirmed by the board of charity trustees."

But Mr Wilson said: "The revelations about Groundwork Merseyside warrant a full investigation by the Scottish Government into the running and management of KSB."

He added: "I have been contacted by people with concerns in KSB and also people who work at Groundwork Merseyside (GM), who have said they are glad the issues are being investigated. There needs to be a full investigation."

Labour MP Graeme Morrice added: "KSB is the second example of Catherine Gee getting a senior post at a charity run by her husband. Scottish ministers should urgently call for guidelines to be introduced on the hiring practices of publicly funded charities."