Ferguson Marine woe: Scots ministers face official sanctions over failure to submit first financial accounts on time

It means the firms, headed by £790,000-a-year turnaround director Tim Hair are due to receive a financial penalty of at least £600.

While the SNP repeatedly denied there were any late filings, sources at Ferguson Marine and Companies House confirmed the accounts were lodged 28 days late.

According to Companies House a complete failure to file accounts is a criminal offence and directors can be personally fined in criminal courts.

READ MORE: State-run 'ferry fiasco' Ferguson Marine shipyard firm makes £100m loss in four months

A failure to pay late filing penalties can result in enforcement proceedings through the courts.

The accounts were due to be laid before the Scottish Parliament for MSPs' scrutiny ahead of publication with Companies House but the delay and the recess due to the elections has meant that was not possible.

Ferguson Marine have said that the first year of trading for the shipyard, which included a period when it was in administration was "unusually complex".

Meanwhile Scottish Conservatives have said 'heads should roll' over the ferry fiasco as it emerged Ferguson Marine made a £100m loss in its first four months of Scottish Government control.

The deficit revealed by Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) Holdings is linked to the failure to deliver the two long overdue lifeline island ferries MV Glen Sannox and Hull 802 which has led to costs more than doubling from the original £97m contract.

It was confirmed that ministers have taken over the contracts for the ferries, and terminated the existing agreements with Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), the taxpayer-funded company which owns and procures ferries.

The Port Glasgow yard went into administration in August, 2019 with the ferries still far from completion, and was taken over by the Scottish government.

According to financial papers, the accounts deficit is linked to a revised programme for delivering and completing the ferries which created a £94.5m loss on the contracts.

It comes a week after would-be owners of Ferguson Marine hit out at the "severe mismanagement" of the shipyard at the centre of a ferry building fiasco partly due to the £2565-a-day being given Mr Hair, a Gloucester-based businessman, in a deal established by ex-finance secretary Derek Mackay two years ago.

Mr Hair was charged with stabilising the business and support the recruitment of an incoming management team, including a chief executive officer.

READ MORE: Would-be Ferguson Marine owner Sandy Easdale sounds off on Scots ferry fiasco 'national scandal'

Sandy Easdale, who owns the Greenock-based McGill's Buses has accused ministers of "throwing taxpayers’ cash around like confetti" in the ongoing ferries scandal.

Mr Easdale, who with his brother James, Sandy had expressed an interest in saving the yard when it went into administration in August 2014, said the people of Inverclyde were "sick of the national embarrassment" that had been created by government around the once proud Ferguson Marine shipyard.

The two ferries were originally due to enter service on the Arran and Skye/Outer Hebrides routes in 2018/19.

But the work repeatedly fell behind schedule and costs rose, with the Inverclyde yard's owner Jim McColl and CMAL, blaming each other for the problems.

The shipyard went into administration in August, 2019, five years after it was sold to Mr McColl leading to a state takeover.

Scottish Conservative infrastructure spokesman Graham Simpson: “SNP Ministers have presided over failure after failure in relation to Ferguson Marine. Now they can’t even manage to ensure that accounts were routinely filed on time and it is taxpayers who will pay the price.

“They are already having to shell out almost £800,000 to pay a directors salary despite the budget for these ferries spiralling out of control.

“Serious questions must be urgently answered as to why these accounts weren’t filed by the set deadline of last month.

“There continues to be a complete failure of SNP ministers to take any responsibility for how they have failed to deliver on this vital project."

Of the £100m loss, he added: "Scotland used to be the shipyard to the world but now the SNP can't even build a couple of ferries. Our island communities have been treated with disdain.

"We have become so numbed to this casual culture of waste and arrogant disregard for public funds that even this huge sum of £100million no longer shocks in the way that it should.

"What is utterly extraordinary is Nicola Sturgeon's refusal to ever hold anyone responsible.

"It's true for the ferries fiasco just as it was in the Alex Salmond scandal. No matter how much money is wasted, the SNP inner circle is protected."

Mr Hair remained upbeat about what he described as an 'accounting loss'.

Opposition parties on Holyrood's rural economy and connectivity committee were united in condemnation over ministers' rejection of their "catastrophic failure" conclusion of an inquiry into the procurement of the ferries.

In their 129-page report, MSPs called for a “root-and-branch overhaul” of the ferry procurement process, declaring that established procedures are “no longer fit for purpose”.

The report in December said the Scottish Government was too willing to press ahead with the ferry project despite the risks involved and stated CMAL and Transport Scotland’s due diligence was “inadequate”.

Under a revised ferry delivery schedule given in August, the first ferry - Glen Sannox - was to be completed between April and June 2022 and the second vessel between December 2022 and February 2023.

In a recent update Ferguson Marine said that recruitment uncertainty meant "it is not therefore possible to provide a definitive schedule for completion of the vessels at this time".

Ferguson Marine hoped to take on 120 extra workers to enable seven-day working but at the end of March the new shift had only 29 staff in place and that the delivery timetable had slipped by seven weeks due to Covid-related issues.

The difficulties in recruiting skilled workers could lead to a further delay.

While Ferguson Marine are working to the original schedule no predictions were being made about its future course.

The shipyard, which currently employs about 400 workers, has been looking to fill vacancies through sub-contractors.

But connectivity and islands secretary Paul Wheelhouse has hit back at criticism insisting the government took "balanced, informed decisions following appropriate diligence and independent advice" and that securing hundreds of skilled jobs cannot represent failure.

He said: "Scottish Ministers took balanced, informed decisions following appropriate diligence and independent advice. In reluctantly accepting increased cost and timescale for the delivery of the vessels, Scottish Ministers have acted and have secured hundreds of skilled jobs and wider economic activity. I do not regard those difficult decisions to represent a failure."

The Herald on Sunday revealed that ministers had ensured there was a "right to buy" the shipyard when it provided a £30m loan nearly three years ago knowing it was creating a path to a controversial state ownership.

While finance secretary Derek Mackay was telling the public in June, 2018 that the £30m loan was “to further diversify their business", internal documents revealed the real reason was that Ferguson was in financial trouble and at risk of falling into administration.

Meanwhile, ministers were ensuring that the loans came with it a pathway to nationalisation.

An SNP spokeswoman repeatedly told us: "The accounts were provided to Companies House on time."

This was contradicted by Ferguson Marine.

In response to the concerns over the £100m loss, SNP declined to comment saying queries should be directed to the yard.

Ferguson Marine said it could not make further comment on the reasons for the loss because it was constrained by pre-election purdah.