The Scottish Government has been branded "corrupt" after it emerged key documents from the CalMac ferries contract went "missing".
Scottish Labour MSP Daniel Johnson took aim at Ivan McKee, Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, in the Scottish Parliament yesterday afternoon.
Last week, Scotland's Auditor General expressed his frustration at not being able to review all documents relating to the awarding of a contract for two ferries fraught with delays and overspends at the Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow.
A recent report from Audit Scotland found there was “insufficient documentary evidence” to explain why the contract was given without a full refund guarantee.
In the years since the contract was awarded, the yard was saved from administration by the Scottish Government in 2019, and the estimated cost to build the two ferries has jumped from £97m to more than £200m.
The Glen Sannox and the as-yet-unnamed Hull 802 are now expected to be completed between March and May 2023 and between October and December 2023.
During Topical Questions, Johnson asked McKee what the government's position was on the potential impact on due diligence of the lost documentation.
"The problem is for transparency, the documents need to be there and they are not and the law requires it.
"This is not an isolated incident, neither in the context of the sorry saga of the two ferries, nor and other Scottish Government interventions."
McKee responded: "There is a clear audit trail of key decisions and the basis on which they were taken."
Johnson responded: "The Auditor General describes this as for frustrating, he is being charitable; it is at best negligent and incompetent.
"At worst, it could be unlawful, breaching the [Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act] and or the Freedom of Information Act.
"So will the minister commission an investigation into this matter to establish the facts and critically whether or not the law has been broken?”
McKee said: "A thorough search was taken for those documents and no ministerial response to that submission has been located.
"As already indicated, we've outlined an Audit Scotland report we have committed to a formal review following completion of the vessels project.
"What is important to recognise and Daniel Johnson and other members in the chamber fail to recognise is that Fergusons, seven years after those events is still employing, hundreds and hundreds of people and are still contributing to the local economy."
McKee said that the Scottish Government, Transport Scotland, Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) and Ferguson Marine had all “cooperated fully” with Audit Scotland and committee inquiries.
Johnson replied: "You could call this many things" negligent, incompetent, deficient, but when these decisions have all been wilful and deliberate, the word I would use is corrupt, perhaps not for individual gain, but a corruption of the process for party political games, contrary to public interest."
Scottish Conservative MSP Graham Simpson also got involved, stating: "This is institutional corruption on a grand scale, Ivan McKee is showing breathtaking arrogance if he thinks there’s been any, any transparency over this.
"This is the SNP’s secret Scotland at its worst. Now, let me quote you another law, the Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011 , which requires the Scottish Government to have a record management plan.
"The Act requires the plan to identify the individual responsible for the management of the department’s public records. So who was the person in this case? I want the name - and why didn’t they ensure that there was a record of the decision making process?"
McKee repeated that ministers have “been transparent,” adding: "We have published the documents that are available, we have complied with the inquiries that have taken place, we’ve committed to undertaking a review and completion of the vessels; so we are being transparent we are being open."
Simpson added: “What is the point of members coming to this chamber asking straight questions, when the minister completely ignores the question and answers something else?”
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