Barry Smith KC to investigate Ferguson Marine ferry fiasco

Barry Smith KC

Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) said Addleshaw Goddard had appointed Mr Smith “to conduct an independent investigation of the procurement process for hulls 801 and 802”.

Mr Smith is a specialist in regulatory prosecutions.

Audit Scotland said last year in a report into the fiasco that ministers had moved ahead with awarding the contract despite “severe misgivings” by CMAL.

It said CMAL “informed Transport Scotland that its preference was to re-start the procurement process” and “Transport Scotland alerted Scottish ministers to CMAL’s concerns and the risks of awarding the contract to Ferguson Marine”.

The Great Ferries Scandal, a BBC documentary, suggested that the process had been “rigged” in favour of Ferguson Marine in Port Glasgow, then owned by prominent SNP supporter Jim McColl.

It said a 400-page specification for the ferries by state-owned ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne found its way into the hands of Ferguson Marine during the bidding process and that much of it was included in the tender for the contract.

The first of the two ferries, Glen Sannox, is to be delivered by May and enter service at the turn of the year, some five years later than planned. Hull 802 will be delivered by March next year.

The contract is expected to cost more than triple the original £97 million.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney has told MSPs that ministers “would explore what further steps” were required to ensure the BBC allegations were “properly, independently, investigated”.