| Dr Jim Dyer, the Scottish Parliament’s standards commissioner, ruled the remuneration received by Mr FitzPatrick from the then Scottish Executive for standing down as a councillor was not a registerable interest and the complaint was dismissed in full.
The politician received the £10,000 severance payment when he left Dundee City Council to pursue a seat in Holyrood in 2007, but didn’t declare the payment in his register of interests once taking up the post of MSP.
Dundee man David Falconer asked Dr Dyer to investigate if this was a breach of the rules.
The standards commissioner ruled that a severance payment is not remuneration for work, nor a gift, and therefore did not find it necessary to consider further the complaint that it had not been registered.
As a payment from a statutory body for severance it was exempt from registration requirements, which are intended to insure against potential conflicts of interest through public declaration of outside earnings or gifts.
An SNP spokesperson said, “It is good the commissioner has acted swiftly to dismiss this complaint.
“The upside of all the publicity is that a number of good causes have become aware of Joe’s decision to give his severance payment to good causes and have made themselves known to us.
“Labour should stop wasting his time and get on with putting their own house in order.”
Mr FitzPatrick said he has “quietly” been giving away cash and to date had probably given away about a third of the money.
He said he did not request publicity when giving money to good causes and would continue to do so “as and when I decide they are deserving of it”.
It is not the first time the severance pay has caused controversy.
In September 2006, Mr FitzPatrick announced he would give the £10,000 to local charities and community projects if he won the Holyrood seat.
But the Labour Party candidate for the constituency, then city council administration leader Jill Shimi, accused Mr FitzPatrick of trying to “bribe” the electorate.
She wrote to the Electoral Commission asking it if the offer constituted a breach of electoral law as it offered voters a financial inducement.
But the commission declined to get involved in the dispute and the Tele’s own phone poll on the subject showed Mr FitzPatrick had almost unanimous support from the Dundee public. |
