Reports surfaced last year that Michael Matheson, a Scottish politician, had managed to rack up a whopping £11,000 (around $14,000) in roaming data charges on his work iPad while on a family holiday in Morocco. At the time we were told that the reason for the bill was the man's reluctance to change the SIM card to one approved by the government's IT professionals. It later transpired that the huge amount of data usage was because his kids had used the iPad as a mobile hotspot to watch a soccer game.
The fallout of the incident continues to rumble on and while Matheson has now paid for the charges himself, more punishment is expected. He's now been told that he could face a 27-day ban from parliament as well as a 54-day reduction in salary.
The proposals are set to be voted on but are already causing controversy.
An expensive soccer game
The BBC reports that such a punishment would be the most severe ever handed out by the Scottish Parliament and that the 54-day salary reduction roughly matches the £11,000 data bill, although it's as-yet unclear whether that's just a coincidence.
However, Labour MSP Martin Whitfield, the committee convener, says that the sanction could have potentially been even stronger. “Had it not been for mitigatory factors, including the impact on the member and his family, the sanctions proposed would likely have been greater,” he said.
Notably, Matheson had previously said that the iPad was only used for work purposes before admitting that his kids had chewed through the data while watching a Rangers vs Celtic soccer game.
