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What was Michael Matheson actually doing ?


superbigal

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Just now, Leith Green said:

He didn't claim it as an expense, you are missing the point.

He did claim £3k in expenses, to reduce 'central' bill to £8k.

Anyway... device his family use runs up a vast fee on a family holiday, but he bills public purse, as it definitely wasn't him and he didn't think it could be his family.

You must either doubt his judgement or his explanation.

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2 minutes ago, Wile E Coyote said:

For me the worst thing is his sons having unsupervised acces to a corporate IT device. This should never happen and is a sacking offence ans possibly a criminal matter

I can’t imagine any scenario where if I gave anyone access to any of my corporate devices I wouldn’t be escorted off the premises.

Same for running up that huge bill and not being able to justify it for work.  If I couldn’t get access to wifi abroad and needed to work I’d make sure my boss had ok’d me using roaming data before switching it on.  I’d then have to explain why it was necessary to use £11k worth and what work I’d been doing.

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1 hour ago, Leith Green said:

 

As hes a politician, he will probably have to resign (unless he is a Tory Lord or Baroness, in receipt of £millions for fraudulent PPE contracts, but of course that is totally different........)

All the PPE cheats will get their comeuppance, you'll know when, it'll be when @HibeeJibee gets terribly excited about it.

Anyway, are we really to believe that he didn't watch the match as well?

The construct of the defence today was a thing of beauty but it all all too neat. The muddle does appear to have morphed into a fiddle.

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4 minutes ago, sophia said:

All the PPE cheats will get their comeuppance, you'll know when, it'll be when @HibeeJibee gets terribly excited about it.

Anyway, are we really to believe that he didn't watch the match as well?

The construct of the defence today was a thing of beauty but it all all too neat. The muddle does appear to have morphed into a fiddle.

It’s up there with the Cummings defence.  What he said kind of explains the facts but no-one believes he’s telling the truth as it’s too nonsensical.

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4 hours ago, Wile E Coyote said:

For me the worst thing is his sons having unsupervised acces to a corporate IT device. This should never happen and is a sacking offence ans possibly a criminal matter

They're the unsung heroes in this mess imo. No idea how old they are, but they managed to crack their dad's password and turn his tablet into a hotspot, and watch football and porn on their own devices all holiday! (allegedly)

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1 hour ago, HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows said:

Does anyone know if he claimed the 3k on his constituency expenses?

What I read into this mess is that he lied, fraudulently tried to claim non business expenses and then got a bit emotional and started greeting in public when he was found out. 

“Oh but I’ve paid it all back now” doesn’t wash with me. He tried to claim this and should be charged with fraud. 

If I tried to claim this as a valid business expense as an employee I’d be disciplined and likely lose my job. 

He is in public office and under far closer scrutiny. 

The polis should be checking all his hard drives. 

https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/16/health-secretary-scotland-fights-calls-resign-11000-ipad-to-holyrood-roaming-bill

“The scandal erupted last week after it emerged that he had racked up a £10,935 data bill on his parliamentary iPad during a week-long Christmas holiday in Morocco, and refused to explain why.

He initially told Holyrood’s authorities those charges were all legitimately incurred on parliamentary business; Holyrood officials accepted his assurances and agreed to pay nearly £8,000 of that bill directly.

Officials also allowed Matheson to put the remainder of the costs on to parliamentary expenses, leaving taxpayers to foot the entire bill. The parliament has since announced a wholescale review of all iPad and data billing rules.

It also emerged Matheson had ignored instructions from parliamentary officials to update his SIM card, which was by then out of contract, had not updated his iPad data settings, and had failed to tell officials he was taking the device overseas.

After two days of questioning last week about how such a large bill could be incurred on parliamentary business on holiday, Matheson, who has a combined parliamentary and government salary of £118,511, agreed, on 10 November, to personally reimburse Holyrood in full.“

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30 minutes ago, Crazy Days said:

Still not done the decent thing and resigned. Useless too afraid to sack him?

No chance he’s going anywhere.

Referring himself to the corporate body will take months to resolve.  Humza won’t sack him as he’ll say he’s entitled to due process and I’m sure that will be the line Matheson himself will trot out.

I don’t think the corporate body even have the power to sanction him.

Scumbag behaviour worthy of the Johnson/Cummings effort.

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Best case scenario: he's clueless about phones, tablets and the internet and how they work, so assumed it was a mistake that the Parliament IT guys would sort out with the Telecoms firms. He knew the bill would come out as part of his expenses that are published, and more than every other MP's phone bills combined. His sons are typical teenagers and didn't fess up till it was too late. The question of why he didn't just bite the bullet and pay the bill when it turned out it was his fault for not getting the sim card changed after repeated warnings is more difficult to excuse, and trying to get away with paying 3 grand out of office expenses.

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