£304,000 payoff college boss will not face charges

A FORMER college boss accused of abusing the public purse with a taxpayer-funded £304,000 payoff will not face any criminal charges.

Police Scotland had been investigating John Doyle after he banked the cash, which was nearly three times higher than official guidelines, for leaving his role as principal of Coatbridge College.

Last year a Holyrood probe described the severance deal as an “appalling abuse of the public purse” and accused Mr Doyle of withholding information from the now defunct college’s board to secure the pay off.

The police then stepped in to consider the case but The Sunday Post has learned that no charges will be brought against the retired education chief.

Mr Doyle – who strongly denies any wrongdoing – rejected a plea from the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to return some of the money and the SFC has ruled out any legal action to get the money back.

This means the matter is effectively over, a position which critics last night branded a disgrace.

Labour MSP Elaine Smith said: “After years of cuts to college budgets and forced mergers under the SNP government, this case created a genuine sense of anger.

“It will dismay people that this is effectively the end of the line for this case, with no attempt to recoup any of the money.”

Mr Doyle was given a lump sum worth 21 months of his £116,000 salary, a three-month bonus and six months’ pay in lieu for overseeing the merger of Coatbridge College and two other institutions in 2013.

Holyrood’s public audit committee’s investigation into the payment described it as an “appalling abuse of the public purse” and MSPs accused the former principal of having “colluded” with college chairman John Gray to engineer the severance package.

According to the committee’s report, Mr Gray did not pass on SFC guidance that severance payments be capped at 13 months’ salary.

Mr Doyle was later asked by the SFC to pay some of the money back, around £100,000 of the £300,000.

However, he refused and the public body said its legal advice was that it did not have a “sufficient chance of success” to justify chasing the case through the courts.

Last year the SFC admitted it had not “set out in enough detail the governance requirements associated with severance arrangements, expecting the colleges would refer to our other published guidance on severance”.

Earlier this year the Scottish Government revealed it is considering a cap on eye-watering payoffs for public sector fat cats.

Nearly 300 Scottish civil servants have banked six-figure severance deals in recent years and it is thought the Scottish Government is looking to the situation in England, where a cap of £95,000 has been introduced on people leaving public sector bodies.

There was no answer at Mr Doyle’s five-bedroom home yesterday but, in a letter rejecting the request to repay some of his severance deal, Mr Doyle’s solicitor last year firmly denied any suggestion he had done anything wrong. It stated: “there was no collusion between our client and John Gray and information was not deliberately withheld from the (Coatbridge College) remuneration committee”.

Mr Doyle’s lawyers said he had passed on an email from Coatbridge College’s remuneration committee member Tom Keenan which indicated he was aware of the SFC guidance but “remained supportive of that payment” to Mr Doyle.

The Sunday Post understands that when the police submitted a note of the circumstances to the Crown Office there was no recommendation to prosecute anyone, with both sides effectively viewing the issue as finished.