SCOTLAND's transport minister is at the centre of a row over an extraordinary property switch that has allowed him to claim over £15,000 through a publicly funded mortgage scheme.

Stewart Stevenson sold a 30-year-old family home in Linlithgow that was not eligible for the controversial subsidy then bought another property just yards from his former house, for which he has since claimed £450 a month from the public purse.

The transaction came months after he was able to purchase another house - this time in his northeast constituency - for £165,000 without a mortgage.

Stevenson's use of the Holyrood expenses scheme is the latest controversy to arise from the Edinburgh Accommodation Allowance (EAA), which permits someMSPstoclaimthemortgage interest for a home in or near the capital.

The scheme has generated a barrage of negative publicity after several MSPs were revealed to have used the scheme to buy a succession of properties and keep any profits.

The new transport minister, who was elected the MSP for Banff and Buchan in 2001, had a family home in Linlithgow, which he and his wife Sandra bought in 1974.Recordsshow that the couple purchased the three-story house for £15,000, with the aid of a mortgage from the Bank of Scotland.

TheMSPlaterboughta£165,000 farmhouse in his constituency in late 2002, without a mortgage. This transaction allowed him to inform the parliament that his main residence was now in the northeast, thus entitling him to the accommodation allowance However, Stevenson was unable to claimforhisexistingpropertyin Linlithgow. Indeed, the MSP did not claim Edinburgh accommodation payments in his first two years at Holyrood.

ButNationalArchivesdocuments reveal that, after buying his new house inthenortheast,Stevensonsoldhis family home in Linlithgow in May 2003 for£282,000, netting him a profit of £267,000.

Weeks later, mathematics graduate Stevensonboughtanotherhomein Linlithgow, just minutes away from the first property, for £170,000. This house waseligiblefortheschemeand Stevenson started to claim subsidies for living in a town he had stayed in since the early 1970s.

In , the financial year in which he switched homes in Linlithgow, the MSP billed the public for £4198 in interest payments, £2683 in legal costs and £628 for council tax on his "second" home.

In the three years after buying the Linlithgowproperty,Stevensonhas clawed back nearly £22,000 in EAA, of which around £15,000 is in mortgage interest subsidies. He also gets more than £1000 a year to pay his council tax.

Another aspect of his property dealings is that, for a brief period in 2003, he and his wife owned three houses between them.

While the "first" home near Banff was jointlyowned,andthe"second" belonged to Stewart Stevenson, files show his wife Sandra was the custodian of a third property, also in the northeast.

Stevenson, who is also director of technology innovation at the Bank of Scotland, is widely regarded as one of thewealthiestNationalistsinthe parliament.

An ally of SNP leader Alex Salmond, Stevensonwasmadeministerfor transport, infrastructure and climate change when the first minister recently announced the make-up of the Scottish Executive.

Stevenson's claims are another blow forthediscreditedEAA,ascheme parliamentaryauthoritiesprivately admit has to be radically reformed.

In the parliament's second term, politiciansasdiverseassocialist Tommy Sheridan, Labour leader Jack McConnell and former presiding officer George Reid all backed a change in the allowance scheme.

Holyrood's corporate body, which runs the parliament, met last week to discuss allowances reform and opted to take further soundings from officials and MSPs.

The Sunday Herald understands the parliament is split between members who want an independent review of the system, and others who want to appoint an "in-house" team with an external element.

One fear among MSPs is that an independentreviewmaynotback a substantial reform of the system or propose changes they would back.

Stevenson yesterday defended his property dealings: "You have to understand that there was no intention, of any kind, to arrange my affairs in such a way as to claim for a house in Linlithgow. This was a natural move."

He added: "It wasn't about becoming eligible for Edinburgh accommodation. It was about disposing of a three-storied house in Linlithgow, which was at that point my main residence, buying a house in the constituency, which is now my main residence, and buying a small house in Linlithgow using a substantial amount of my own capital to use as myaccommodationwhenI'min Edinburgh."

On why he could not have stayed in his first home in Linlithgow, he said: "I no longer had anyone to maintain that house, to keep it clean, to look after the garden. How could I possibly stay in a house of that size?"

He added: "None of this was done with my financial advantage in mind. If it had been, I could have done much better. I could have, under the rules, put the entire value of my property inLinlinthgowonaninterest-only mortgage."

Solidarity leader Tommy Sheridan, a long-term critic of the scheme, said: "It is unbelievable that Stewart Stevenson is allowed to claim on one property in Linlithgow after selling a family home in the same town that wasn't eligible for support. This is another disgraceful exampleofwhythediscredited Edinburghaccommodation allowance should be scrapped."

He added: "The scheme is the single biggest reason why the public are fed up with Holyrood."