A former Scottish Tory treasurer could face a 12 year restriction on his financial activities after he allegedly failed to cooperate with the investigation into his bankruptcy.

Malcolm Scott was accused in court last week of a "concerted effort" of non-disclosure of assets, including a speedboat and the proceeds of a car sale, and of not telling the truth about the contents of his former nine-bedroom mansion.

However, Scott criticised the action pursued by the country's bankruptcy quango and said it amounted to a "witchhunt" .

He also claimed to have been contacted by Glasgow gangsters during his period of financial difficulty.

Scott was a grain and property tycoon who made over £1.6million in personal and corporate donations to the Tories.

Ex-Foreign Secretary William Hague and the Prime Minister were allowed use of his private jet and the Fettes-educated businessman was also tipped for a peerage.

But his business empire collapsed and he was sequestrated - the Scots term for bankruptcy - in June 2012.

The combined personal and business debts totalled millions of pounds.

Family members were also made bankrupt and Scott and his wife had to move out of their 21 acre mansion in Kirknewton, West Lothian.

The Trustee in charge of the case, Blair Nimmo of KMPG, requested a public examination of Scott in front of a sheriff in 2013, to find out if assets had been concealed.

In the latest development, the Accountant in Bankruptcy (AIB) - a public agency funded by the taxpayer - last week applied for a 12 year Bankruptcy Restriction Order (BRO) to be placed on Scott.

A BRO can include a range of restrictions on a debtor, in relation to getting credit, or holding down certain types of employment.

James Lloyd, acting for AIB in Edinburgh sheriff court, stated that the case for a BRO was split into seven parts: issues relating to the Kirknewton property; shares in a company once controlled by Scott; the proceeds of a Range Rover sale; a boat called Breakwater; "certain" directorships; a general claim the debtor had failed to cooperate; and a property in the Bahamas.

He told Sheriff Holligan that, on July 12 2012, after the sequestration, Scott told the Trustee that various items at his mansion had been stolen following a break-in.

However, the court was told that a number of items had earlier been sold at auction by a local builder for nearly £10,000.

Lloyd also quoted from a police report which found "insufficient evidence" of a break-in.

He stated that "all of the items in the house hadn't been stolen", and that Scott "did not tell the truth" to the Trustee about the contents of the Kirknewton property.

Lloyd also relayed to the court Scott's explanation of the sale of a Range Rover in the weeks before his sequestration.

The debtor had previously claimed that the proceeds from the sale had been put in a box and given to a friend in Edinburgh for safe-keeping.

Scott had claimed that a man called 'Dougie' then stole the box and the money, believed to be in the region of £9,000.

Lloyd argued that the explanation of the missing money was "fairly incredible" and told the court that the proceeds "ought" to have been disclosed by Scott.

The AIB case also focused on a transfer of shares from Scott to his son in 2011 in a firm called Dunalastair Estates Ltd.

It subsequently emerged that the firm owned a speedboat which had not been declared in the company accounts, or to the Trustee.

Lloyd argued that the issue was another example of Scott "failing to cooperate with the Trustee", adding: "Between the shares and the boat, there was an asset there."

The court was also told that Scott had not declared details of a wine collection, or of fishing rights.

In response, Scott described the action as "vindictive" and said he had not acted "culpably or irresponsibly."

On the theft of the car sale proceeds, he told the sheriff that the cash had been given to a friend against a background of safety fears.

"I was getting phone calls from gangsters in Glasgow," he said.

On the transfer of shares to his son, he said that he had believed his father had been the original owner of the shares.

He added that he signed the transfer, but had been unaware of the nature of the transaction as he ran many companies at the time: "I knew I was signing a transfer. I didn't know it was for me."

He also repeated his explanation of events at the Kirknewton mansion: "My position remains that I was telephoned by [the local builder] and turned up at the house."

Upon arriving at the scene, he said he found "contents strewn down the drive".

Scott also claimed that previous Sunday Herald articles on his case had been "political".

A decision on the AIB application will be made by the sheriff.