Strathclyde police have been called in to investigate goings on at a gay drop-in centre run by a Glasgow Labour councillor.
The Daily record is reporting that Glasgow Council officials have handed a dossier to the police after the council carried out an internal investigation into allegations of corruption at The Castro centre.
Strathclyde police have been called in to investigate goings on at a gay drop-in centre run by a Glasgow Labour councillor.
The Daily record is reporting that Glasgow Council officials have handed a dossier to the police after the council carried out an internal investigation into allegations of corruption at The Castro centre.
The centre, which received £50,000 a year from the Labour run local authority, was run by Labour councillor Ruth Black. It was recently forced to close leaving debts of over £40,000. Allegations of financial irregularities led to a probe into the centre.
It is understood that tax and national insurance had been deducted from staff wages but not paid, the centre was not properly insured, there were bills relating to gaming machines, a relative of the Labour councillor was employed against grant rules and part of the grant went towards payment for a car.
A previous incarnation of the club, run by the same Labour councillor, also resulted in closure leaving debts of £300,000. There was outrage when Glasgow Council subsequently awarded the new contract to the same Labour councillor amidst allegations that former Labour leader Stephen Purcell had helped Black win the contract.
Stephen Purcell quit in disgrace and fled the country after detectives interviewed him over cocaine use and links to gangsters. Ruth Black’s partner Jeanie McDougall is friends with gangster Paul Ferris, she is also the step-sister of drug baron Stewart Boyd, who died in a car crash in Spain in 2003.
SNP group leader James Dornan has made repeated calls for an independent inquiry into goings on at the Labour controlled local authority. Mr Dornan said he felt sad for the people who used the Castro Club and had now been let down.
He added: “A facility like this is much-needed. Unfortunately, this seems to be another consequence of wrongdoing in the city’s Labour Party.”