Complaint
We have everyone back who was due to return. I welcome back to the meeting the public and the press. For agenda item 6, the committee will announce its decision at stage 3 on a report from the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.
A complaint was lodged by Mr and Mrs Banks, who state that in June 2004, they made £25,000 available to Mr Campbell Martin and his ex-wife to assist in the purchase of a house. The money was paid into Mr Martin's bank account and, shortly after, £20,000 of it was used to supplement a mortgage to purchase the house. Mr and Mrs Banks complained that the provision of the money was not declared in Mr Martin's entry in the register of interests while Mr Martin was a member of the Scottish Parliament.
The complaint refers to a failure to declare in 2004, when the Scotland Act 1998 (Transitory and Transitional Provisions) (Members' Interests) Order 1999 (SI 1999/1350) was in force. Article 4(6) of the order and paragraph 6 of its schedule set out the circumstances when a member had to register a gift of heritable or moveable property or a gift of a benefit in kind whose value exceeded £250. The member had to register the gift within 30 days of acquiring it.
The standards commissioner has concluded that the former member breached article 4(6) and paragraph 6 of the schedule to the Scotland Act 1998 (Transitory and Transitional Provisions) (Members' Interests) Order 1999. Mr Martin did not seek to deny that he benefited from the gift, but said that he did not realise at the time that it required registration. Mr Martin accepts the commissioner's findings and conclusion that he should have registered the gift of £25,000 from Mr and Mrs Banks.
The committee has considered the commissioner's report. It accepts his findings on the facts of the complaint and agrees with his conclusion that Mr Martin breached the members' interests order. That said, the committee notes that the area procurator fiscal instructed no criminal investigation and that the £25,000 was repaid with interest, albeit as a result of an out-of-court settlement in 2007. In addition, the members' interests order was replaced for session 3 by the Interests of Members of the Scottish Parliament Act 2006, which requires members to apply the prejudice test to gifts that exceed £520 in value. When that test is applied, it is arguable whether such a gift would require registration if a member received it in the current session.
As Mr Martin is a former MSP, the committee cannot consider applying sanctions, so the committee's consideration of the complaint is complete. The committee expects to publish its report on the complaint on Friday 16 May.
That concludes item 6. As agreed under item 3, the committee will go back into private session to consider its draft report on the complaint. I will wait for the public and others to leave before we continue.
Meeting continued in private until 15:58.