A Scottish Police Authority whistleblower who has accused the watchdog of an alleged misuse of funds starts her employment tribunal in Glasgow tomorrow.
The case pursued by chartered accountant Amy McDonald is believed to centre around payments worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to six individuals.
However, the names of the third parties in the case are secret after the SPA successfully applied for an anonymity order. Justice Secretary Michael Matheson has known about the allegations for around ten months.
Margaret Gribbon, a solicitor acting for McDonald, said: "The claim will commence before the tribunal tomorrow and will determine whether, as alleged, my client was subject to detriment by the SPA for having raised concerns about a misuse of funds."
CATCH UP
- The Justice Secretary's knowledge of the whistleblowing claims
The SPA, a civilian watchdog set up to oversee Police Scotland, was criticised in December by Auditor General Caroline Gardner over a range of spending decisions.
Gardner flagged up concerns about the SPA approving £67,000 in relocation expenses for deputy chief constable Rose Fitzpatrick, as well as agreeing to pay her personal tax liability.
The report also criticised the £344,819 spent on temporary staff and questioned the exit package for former chief executive John Foley.
As revealed by the Sunday Herald, the SPA is facing further questions about its finances after McDonald used whistleblowing legislation to allege a sizeable misuse of funds at the body.
McDonald was the SPA director of financial accountability when she made the allegations and used to sit on the body's senior management team. She now works on the forensics side at the watchdog.
She has made a public interest disclosure claim and her case begins tomorrow morning in Glasgow. It is understood the BBC challenged the anonymity order, but the bid failed. Public Concern at Work, a whistleblowers’ charity, also tried to have the order overturned.
Bob Matheson, Senior Policy Officer at PCaW, said: "It is unfortunate that we, along with at least one media organisation that we are aware of, were unsuccessful in our bid to have the anonymity order lifted. It is still our view that the public have a right to know about matters of alleged misuse of public funds and that seeking anonymisation of parts of the case in this instance was inappropriate.
"We work with diverse organisations across all sectors and encourage transparency, even - indeed particularly - when wrongdoing occurs. We commend the whistleblower for her bravery for speaking out and await, with interest, the outcome of the case."
Jenny Marra, the convener of Holyrood’s Public Audit and Post-legislative scrutiny committee, said:
“It’s the job of the Audit committee to follow the public pound and check that the tax payer is getting value for money. The Audit Committee will be inviting the whistleblower to give evidence in public session as soon as the tribunal concludes and we are legally allowed to do so.”
Tory MSP Liam Kerr said: “This is an extremely important matter and full transparency is essential. The role of whistleblowing, especially in public sector organisations, is crucial. It’s vital others aren’t put off from raising legitimate concerns in future as a result of this process.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) said: "SPA is contesting a claim made by a member of staff last year about how they were treated as a result of raising concerns about payments made to other individuals in previous financial years. The payments referred to in the case have already been subject to independent audit on which the SPA will publish a report in due course.
"The Judge in the upcoming tribunal has agreed to the SPA's request to protect the identities of other individuals named in the case in order to protect their legal rights and as it would have no bearing on how the person making the claims was treated, which is what the tribunal case is all about."
In a statement released last month, a Scottish Government spokesperson said of the whistleblowing claims: “The Scottish Government received correspondence in May 2017 which related to this matter. This was raised with the SPA shortly thereafter.”
Asked at the time if Matheson had learned of the matter at this point, the spokesperson added: “I can confirm that the Justice Secretary was made aware in May 2017.”
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