Standards Commission are back

THE STANDARDS Commission for Scotland is in Shetland for the second week in a row investigating complaints against two more councillors.

Two members of the public have submitted a complaint against Lerwick North councillor Caroline Miller after it was revealed that she accepted rental payments for her husband’s knitwear company Judane (Shetland) Ltd, which owed money to Shetland Development Trust.

Another three people have submitted complaints about Shetland West councillor Gary Robinson regarding comments he made about a confidential legal agreement between Judane and Shetland Islands Council.

Mrs Miller is an unpaid consultant to Judane, who last year owed around £600,000 to the Shetland Development Trust. In December the council agreed to settle for just under £200,000 in return for the company dropping a claim for £2.3 million damages to their business after a planning decision in 2005 that was later overturned.

At the time of the agreement it emerged that Mrs Miller’s company Northern Isles Knitwear had accepted rent on behalf of Judane from budget retailer Chris Hodge after she had been elected as a councillor in 2007.

The revelation led to much speculation, with calls from both Mr Hodge and councillor Robinson for an investigation into the company’s financial affairs.

It also led directly to the two complaints about councillor Miller to the Standards Commission, even though shortly afterwards it came out that the rental payments were used to pay off Judane’s development trust loan.

Subsequently two complaints were made against councillor Robinson about his public comments relating to the confidential agreement between the SIC and Judane.

Last week investigating officers from the Standards Commission were in Shetland looking into a complaint against Lerwick South councillor Jonathan Wills by SIC convener Sandy Cluness, vice convener Josie Simpson, former chief executive David Clark, acting chief executive Hazel Sutherland and chief lawyer Jan Riise.

Dr Wills had to answer questions about why he publicly condemned an internal council investigation carried out into complaints he made against Mr Clark for allegedly threatening him with violence over the phone last September.