John Swinney is under mounting pressure to explain his role in the Cal Mac ferry fiasco that has cost taxpayers millions of pounds.
The Deputy First Minister was revealed yesterday to have given ultimate approval in 2015 to the disastrous deal to build two new ferries at the Ferguson Marine shipyard.
Neither vessel has been finished almost seven years later and the business had to be nationalised in 2019 after massive cost overruns on the project forced the yard into administration.
A key document - previously thought lost - was finally published yesterday which showed that then transport minister Derek Mackay signed the contract with Fergusons in August 2015.
But civil service advice in an email chain revealed the deal was only given the go-ahead after Swinney could be personally briefed on the matter.
Douglas Ross today demanded the senior SNP minister make a statement to parliament on the affair.
Speaking at First Minister's Questions, the Tory leader revealed that unredacted documents showed the Scottish Government was warned of "significant procurement risks" when the Ferguson deal was signed off.
He said: "They waited for the Deputy First Minister to give the green light - honest John's hands are all over this dodgy deal".
Ross asked Nicola Sturgeon how she could blame Mackay when it was Swinney who signed off the deal.
The SNP leader hit back: "It seems pretty obvious to anyone who is looking - the Deputy First Minister did not take the decision.
"He wasn't even copied in to the advice that was the basis of that decision.
"He was simply briefed on the decision after it was taken - not even at his request but on the initiative of an official.
"It is not unusual for finance secretaries to be briefed on the spending of money.
"It does not mean the finance secretary has actually taken the decision."
Ross insisted it was "very clear" that officials escalated the decision to the Deputy First Minister.
He continued: "This is the latest incompetence from this SNP Government.
"They published a series of responses which were heavily redacted - lines blacked out.
"Except they did such a poor at redacting the documents, if you copy and paste them into Microsoft Word, the information is revealed.
"In one section of the redacted document, it warned of a risk of legal challenge to the contract."
The Tory MSP added: "In other words, going ahead with this contract was such a bad idea it could open up the government to even more losses than they had already experienced."
Speaking to reporters after FMQs, Swinney said: "As finance secretary at the time, I’m responsible for providing the budget for the meeting of any contracts.
"What officials were doing was briefing me that there was no need to change the budget arrangements based on the contract that had been agreed and approved by the transport portfolio, and which of course is confirmed by the email trail you got yesterday."
Asked if he gave it the nod, the Deputy First Minister said: “What I gave was the budget approval, which I had given in August.
"And the budget approval I gave in August of 2015, the officials assured me on October 9 did not need to be changed.
"The finance secretary does not approve all contracts, if that was the case there would be significant inefficiency in the processing of contracts within Government."
Responding to another question, he said: "I didn’t give it the final nod.
"I was given assurance that the budget provision that I had put in place in August was adequate for the contractual arrangements."
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