Holyrood Park, Edinburgh where the Clan Gathering was held
Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance (DEMA), a publicly funded body set up to attract visitors to Edinburgh, stands to make a £297,000 loss unless it scales back its activities.
It was revealed last week the firm behind the Clan Gathering, a key attraction of the Year of Homecoming campaign, made a £600,00 loss from the event.
The company, run by Tory hereditary peer Lord Sempill, was unable to meet its debts despite receiving about £500,000 of public money.
I thought VisitScotland was the publicly funded agency whose remit was to attract visitors to all over Scotland. Why does Edinburgh need a separate one?
Who appointed Lord Sempill to run the organisation? The former conservative parliamentary candidate has been a director of several dissolved companies, including Scotch Direct Ltd and Malt Masterclass. It was revealed last week that Sempill's firm, the Gathering 2009 Ltd., made out a £38,909 loan to another venture in which he was a director. He confirmed the loan would also have to be written off because the company, Panalba Ltd., was 'not in a position' to pay it back.
Margo MacDonald, Lothians MSP, said: "There's too much money involved here for there not to be an inquiry. There clearly was not enough time devoted to producing a proper business plan for the Clan Gathering or the bailout."
An inquiry must be held and this organisation given top to tail scrutiny. Somehow I think Lord Sempill may just resign if that happens, don't you?
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4 comments:
The "good ol' boy" network is alive and well then?
Seems like it scunnert but what I'd dearly like to know is who appointed the chancer.
Margot's right, there should be a full enquiry.
I wonder if there will be though DL, maybe it's a sake of jobs for the boys.
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