Douglas Mill: The TIEs That Bind

Just when you thought that good old Civic Scotland had got over the Parliament Building Fiasco, along came the Edinburgh Trams Farce. Another opportunity to display ludicrous amateur incompetence at public expense. Oh how the contractors laughed yet again. Years late. Many small businesses ruined and £400m over budget. You just couldn’t make it up.

And even worse. No lady from the library to blame this time.

And that is why Lord Hardie is leading an Inquiry. And generally we are all so wearied of Civic Scotland and its doings that not many of us bothered much at all. I certainly didn’t. Not till I accidentally caught Reporting Scotland a couple of weeks ago.

And there was one Andrew Fitchie, solicitor, gaily telling his Lordship that – and I quote from the BBC Website:

‘… he knowingly allowed false information about Edinburgh’s tram contract to be submitted to the Council. He accepted the legal implications amounted to fraud. He accepted that he allowed information about changes in the burden of risk in part of the contract submitted to Edinburgh City Council in May 2008 despite knowing it was false. He said he knew that was potentially a criminal and civil offence.’

I inhaled my cheesy pasta. I pinched my self. I went for a cold shower. I laid down in a darkened room. And I watched it again. And again. For this guy is a solicitor. And the word ETHICS rang out.

And then I went on The Times website. And it confirmed it. And also happily told us:

“A lawyer responsible for negotiating Edinburgh’s tram contract accepted a £50,000 bonus from the company established by the city council to deliver the project. Andrew Fitchie also secured an extra £114.000 from Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (Tie) for the tram contract law firm from which he was seconded to work on the project”.

It was made clear that the Mr Fitchie informed his firm and HMRC of his bonus and that it was subsequently returned. But for the public, the imagery was of snouts, troughs and pork barrels. And yes, I am such an old fogey that I believe that there is a certain moral dimension to public funds. The profession behaving badly at a sensitive time.

So I looked him up in the White Book. And he wasn’t there. Because (thank heavens) he’s not a Scottish solicitor. He works for an English firm with a Scottish branch office. And I wonder just where that leaves us all. And I am not getting into why no Scottish firm nor Scottish solicitor was good enough for this gig.

And one person you just do not mess with is Lord Hardie. A former Dean of Faculty and Lord Advocate, he is tough, old school and not likely to be impressed by solicitors, from anywhere, appearing before him and giving such evidence.

So. Watch this space.

Double deontology if you have 15 mins over a coffee for a quick google.

And the usual bottle for the first email confirming the title song, who sang it and on what album.