Labour donor Willie Haughey who faced charges that he withheld information from the police has had the case against him dropped.
The millionaire businessman had been due to appear in court last week but prosecutors decided there would be no further proceedings just prior to the case being called.
A Mercedes car owned by Mr Haughey was allegedly caught speeding in Rutherglen on April 7th last year. The businessman had been accused of failing to supply the name of the driver of the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence. A hearing at Glasgow District Court in July heard Mr Haughey deny the charge.
Police officers visited Mr Haghey after receiving no response to a letter asking for the information. Mr Haughey claimed not to have received the letter and said that he was in Australia at the time the letter was said to have been sent.
The businessman is said to be delighted that the case has been dropped and claimed the episode was down to “a bureaucratic mix up”.
He said: “I’m delighted that this hasn’t progressed and there’s no action being taken. The whole thing was nothing more than a bureaucratic mix-up, so I’m now glad it’s over and done with.”
Earlier this year, Mr Haughey was drawn into the Steven Purcell scandal amidst allegations of “cash for favours”. It was claimed that Mr Haughey’s businesses had won lucrative contracts from Labour controlled Glasgow Council on the back of donations he had made to the Labour party.
Mr Haughey, who has given £1 million to the Labour party and received an OBE in 2003, denied receiving any such special treatment and an internal audit found that the allegations made were groundless.
Calls by the leader of the opposition James Dornan for an independent inquiry into the goings on at Glasgow Council were blocked by Labour and Lib Dem councillors.
