Senior Sturgeon adviser 'in the loop' before ferry fiasco contract award to Jim McColl's Ferguson Marine

Concerns over who finally made the decision to sanction the contract in October, 2015 have continued to emerge at the Scottish Parliament's public audit committee, where there remained fears that there has not been full disclosure over how the contract was awarded without a mandatory full builder's refund guarantee.

One Transport Scotland official said there was “nothing choreographed” about the release of a the crucial 'missing' document on May 11 which pinned the blame for the signing off of Scotland's ferry fiasco contract on then transport minister Derek Mackay.

READ MORE: Scrapping Scotland's £250m ferry fiasco vessels remains an option, admits senior ScotGov official

Current transport minister Jenny Gilruth was previously accused of treating the Scottish Parliament with "contempt" after claiming to have found a lost document  after auditor general Stephen Boyle raised concerns about 'missing evidence' over why ministers took on the financial risk of proceeding with awarding the controversial £97m order to Ferguson Marine without mandatory refund guarantees from the shipbuilder.

It has been suggested that the transparency failure was a breach of the Public Finance and Accountability Act and the affair has been reported to Police Scotland.

Nicola Sturgeon has denied her government staged a cover-up over its decision to hand a scandal-hit ferries contract to a shipyard owned by independence supporter Jim McColl after initially saying key documents could not be located.

And amid a lack of clarity from the Scottish Government about which minister gave the final go-ahead, she said: “I didn’t say don’t go ahead. That isn’t to say that I was the minister taking the actual decision."

While transport minister Jenny Gilruth painted Mr Mackay as the 'fall guy' who signed off on the calamitous contract papers revealed that it had to get a level of clearance from deputy first minister John Swinney first and now it has further emerged that a key adviser to the First Minister was also kept in the loop.

Records show that Mr Anderson, who had previously been special adviser and official spokesman for Alex Salmond, for nearly two-and-a-half years before the contract was awarded in October 2015, was kept informed about sanctioning of the contract.

Mr Anderson was also kept in the loop in a circular that sought the then infrastructure secretary Keith Brown to name Ferguson Marine as preferred bidder in August, 2015, in the absence of Mr Mackay.

The crucial document covering emails from October 8 and 9, 2015 was discovered on the day of a Scottish Conservatives-instigated debate on the calamitous deal which has seen two lifeline vessels still not delivered, running over five years late.

Ms Gilruth told the Scottish Parliament last month: "I hold in my hand that irrefutable documentary evidence that this decision was made rightly and properly by the then transport minister Derek Mackay."

Public audit committee convener Richard Leonard said: "If it was entirely a decision for the transport minister... why was a senior special advisor to the First Minister copied in?"

Fran Pacitti, Transport Scotland's director of aviation, maritime, freight and canals, who said there was no collusion and nothing untoward with regard to the timing of the release of the 'missing' document said it was "good practice" to copy in others including ministers that might have an interest.

"It doesn't mean they are taking the decision on it," she said.

Audit Scotland found ministers went ahead with granting the contract in October, 2015, despite the concerns raised by CMAL over the lack of financial guarantees that placed them at risk.

The lifeline ferries the Glen Sannox and Hull 802 are due to be delivered next year, and will cost at least two-and-a-half times more than originally stated at at least £250 million.

The ships are still being worked on at the Ferguson Marine shipyard which was nationalised by the Scottish Government after falling into administration in August, 2019.

Ms Pacitti insisted she was not asked or instructed by anyone to continue to look for the 'missing' document but accepting the interest there was in it and "understanding obligations to be as transparent as we can, we did a further search in advance of preparation this committee".

When asked by the Scottish Parliament's public audit committee about the timing of the release, she went on: "There was nothing choreographed around that. As soon as we found it we alerted the minister to it and put it in the public domain at the earliest opportunity."

Mr Leonard retorted: "Okay, I'm sure people will draw their own conclusions from that."

He also said that the view of Audit Scotland was that there remained insufficent documentary evidence over the decision to award the ferries contract to Ferguson Marine givbe the significant risks and concerns raised by CMAL even after the May 11 emails discovery.

Further documents showed that Mr Mackay's approval had been discussed with Mr Swinney first, while there was a request to ensure there were no "banana skins" before the award was finally made.

An email on October 9, 2015 from the ferries division of the Scottish Government to Gordon Wales, the Scottish Government director of financial management and director of procurement and property Ainslie McLaughlin stated that Mr Mackay's sanction would be passed on CMAL "this afternoon" with a view to them signing a contract with [Ferguson Marine] asap.

But three minutes later, Mr Wales in an email copied to Transport Scotland asked if it "might be sensible" to wait until Mr Mackay and Mr Swinney had spoken "to ensure there are no financial/procurement issues that he might want further reassurance on".

The first ship was meant to enter service on the Arran route in the summer of 2018 but is not expected to be ready until next year at the earliest - five years late. Hull 802, destined for an Outer Hebrides route, has gone the same way.