A civil servant at the centre of the Scottish Government’s mishandling of complaints about Alex Salmond will be questioned this week about how her involvement cost taxpayers more than £600,000.
Judith MacKinnon, the government’s head of people advice, counselled the accusers before she was appointed to investigate complaints of sexual misconduct against the former First Minister.
She will be asked about what assurances she gave the women when she appears before MSPs investigating the government’s handling of harassment complaints on Tuesday.
The Sunday Post revealed two weeks ago that Scotland’s top civil servant, Leslie Evans, rejected requests to enter into arbitration with Mr Salmond to settle his complaint.
In documents released by the committee on Friday, it emerged that Ms McKinnon’s prior involvement in the case had been acknowledged by the Scottish Government months before they pressed on with the court case.
The government’s error in failing to appoint an independent investigative officer left it with a £512,000 legal bill for Mr Salmond’s costs plus £100,000 for its own legal advice. Mr Salmond was later cleared of 13 counts of sexual assault.
Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “I want to know to what extent she urged those complainers to come forward and what comfort she gave them that there were others who were likely to bring complaints as well.”
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