MSPs have revealed they had been struggling to work out how “huge sums of public cash” have been spent on the SNP Authorities’s scandal-hit ferries mission.
Potential prices for the two unfinished vessels have soared to £338million – in comparison with the unique £97m price ticket – amid claims of corruption surrounding the 2015 deal.
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Immediately a letter to the nationalised Ferguson shipyard’s boss from Holyrood’s public audit committee, which is probing the fiasco, warned that it has “proved troublesome to establish how the huge sums of public cash have been spent” to ship the 2 vessels.
The letter from cross-party committee convener and Labour MSP Richard Leonard was despatched to Ferguson Marine chief exec, David Tydeman, after he gave proof on the fiasco.
Mr Leonard pointed to a report by public spending watchdog Audit Scotland earlier this yr which revealed the contract was given to Ferguson’s in 2015 – the most costly of seven bidders – regardless of business normal monetary safeguards.
He stated: “Regardless of our efforts, it has proved troublesome to establish how the huge sums of public cash have been spent to ship vessels 801 and 802, from the inception of the mission in 2015 as much as current day.”
Mr Leonard requested Mr Tydeman him if he may “provide a perspective on how this cash might be accounted for”, and requested for the “most up-to-date breakdown” supplied to ministers.
Tory MSP Graham Simpson stated: “The truth that we don’t understand how these eye-watering sums have been spent tells you all the pieces it is advisable to know concerning the SNP’s secret Scotland.”
The ferries had been meant to enter service in 2018, however they delay has left islanders with unreliable vessels amid a hovering invoice.
The most recent estimated value for ending the mission is £209.6million.
Moreover, taxpayers paid £83.3m of “milestone” funds previous to the yard’s nationalisation in 2019, and £45m of Scottish Authorities loans.
In 2014, the shipyard was rescued amid monetary troubles and had been utilized by Alex Salmond as an emblem of Scotland’s potential underneath independence.
Nicola Sturgeon’s authorities awarded it the contract in 2015 , regardless of it being the costliest and the dearth of the monetary assure. The yard later crashed and was nationalised by SNP ministers in 2019. It stays unclear if and when the ferries will sail.
The Tories have warned of a “whiff” of corruption surrounding the saga. Earlier this yr it emerged in a BBC probe that Ferguson had entry to particulars for the tender course of that weren’t out there to rival bidders.
Final week, Deputy First Minister John Swinney stated the Ferguson shipyard was to get an additional £72m of state backing – nevertheless it’s unclear if this can add much more to the completion prices.
Ferguson Marine and the Scottish Authorities have been contacted for remark.
