A FORMER Scottish Tory Party treasurer has been banned from being a company director for five-and-a-half years after lying to bankruptcy investigators.
Malcolm Scott, 52, pretended that items had been stolen from his luxury home during a break in and then sold them at auction.
He also failed to declare he owned a speedboat, a wine collection, fishing rights, and property in the Bahamas in a bid to stop them being sold to pay off his debts.
The Fettes-educated businessman donated at least £1.6 million to the Conservatives and was the Scottish party's treasurer.
He was a close political ally of former Foreign Secretary William Hague, allowed Prime Minister David Cameron use of his private jet, and was heavily tipped for a peerage.
However, his grain and property empire went bust spectacularly, owing creditors millions of pounds.
Scott, a trustee of the charity Crimestoppers, was made bankrupt with £8 million of debts in June 2012.
However, an investigation by the insolvency service, the Accountant in Bankruptcy (AIB) found that he had repeatedly lied to his bankruptcy trustee in a bid to protect his assets.
The AIB have now secured a five-and-a-half year bankruptcy restriction order against Scott at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
The order bans him from being a company director and requires him to disclose his status to a credit provider when seeking credit of more than £500.
Sheriff William Holligan said he had granted the order 'due to his misconduct during the administration of his bankruptcy'.
Richard Dennis, chief executive of AIB, said: "The Accountant in Bankruptcy will investigate and will take action against those who seek to subvert the bankruptcy process.
"The sheriff has agreed with us that Mr Scott sought to subvert the process during his bankruptcy.
"These restrictions are necessary to alert potential future creditors and employers to the inappropriate behaviour we have identified."
The probe into Scott also found he had failed to declare to his trustee, Blair Nimmo of KPMG, that he had transferred Pounds 9,000 of shares which could have been sold to benefit his creditors.
He also failed to account for the sale of a Range Rover. His speedboat, called Breakwater, was later sold by his Mr Nimmo for just under £36,000. His interests in the Bahamas are estimated to be worth £200,000.
Last year, Scott's former mansion in Kirknewton, West Lothian, was put on the market at a knockdown price.
In 2005, the businessman bought Hillfield House for £1.85 million and spent £2 million renovating it.
The Georgian mansion, set in 21 acres, has five reception rooms, nine bedrooms, an orangery, an indoor swimming pool, a loch, and paddocks.
Scott tried to sell the property for £2.95 million after running into financial difficulties.
However it was advertised for sale at offers over £1,4mto help pay off his creditors.
At a court hearing in 2013, Scott claimed Hillfield had been "ransacked" before his bankruptcy. His wife confirmed the burglary in court, but said the house had not been "trashed in any way".
However, the AIB later produced a police report stating there was "insufficient evidence" of a break-in. They argued that "all of the items in the house hadn't been stolen" and that Scott "did not tell the truth" about the mansion's contents.
Scott told Edinburgh Sheriff Court he was now surviving on £100 a week and living in a £350,000 house in Bridge of Weir thanks to a friend helping with the £800-a-month rent.
His wife Rona said she was supporting her husband by working as an office receptionist and was also receiving working-tax credits, a benefit for the low-paid.
Scott told the court of the toll the collapse of his business empire had taken on his family.
He said: "My wife put all her personal money into the company, which amounted to over Pounds 1m. My mother and father have suffered a similar fate.
"I believe that I have paid a heavy price for my mistakes."
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