Chiefs face Gathering gloom over 'misleading' statement

COUNCIL chiefs could be called back before a Scottish Parliament committee after apparent contradictions emerged in evidence over whether or not they approved a "misleading" statement about The Gathering.

Council leader Jenny Dawe and deputy Steve Cardownie told Holyrood's audit committee last month that they had not seen the final version of a press release which announced that the council-funded Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance (Dema) would take over the ailing company behind the two-day clan event in Holyrood Park last year and accept liability for debts it owed to a host of private businesses.

The council and Dema subsequently said they could never have agreed to take on the liabilities, which added up to 344,000.

But written evidence to the audit committee now claims Councillors Dawe and Cardownie did see draft versions of the press release containing the crucial sentence and never asked for it to be removed.

Council media manager Stewart Argo said he had attended a meeting on October 14 last year in Cllr Dawe's office, along with Cllr Cardownie and others, to discuss a press release which had already been drawn up by the Scottish Government. He said he was asked to produce an amended release. "As to specific changes required, the main one was to make clear that there would be no liability to the council itself.

"I have no recollection of being asked to change the text around Dema taking on the Gathering."

He said Cllr Cardownie had spoken to him at his desk about points to be included in his quote and some changes were later phoned in via fellow councillor Tom Buchanan. Cllr Dawe had given "oral approval" to a version of the release.

Mr Argo said the rationale for issuing the press release in a tight timescale was a belief that a story was going to break the next day which would precipitate liquidation proceedings against The Gathering.

"Without the proposal for Dema to take on the company, and therefore the debts, there was no purpose in issuing a news release," he said.

He acknowledged that he had not received written approval from everyone involved before he issued the final version at 9.30pm that night, but key people had either explicitly approved it, commented on it or raised no concerns.

"My understanding at the time was the future of the Gathering was in doubt unless a news release could be issued to stave off negative media reports and action by creditors."

Lothians Labour MSP George Foulkes, a member of the audit committee, said Cllrs Dawe and Cardownie should be recalled to explain the apparent contradictions.

He said: "There are discrepancies between what they told the committee and the account from the press officer. We need to investigate this further.

"Everyone seems to be disowning this press release. They may not have seen the very final version that went out, but they saw drafts which included the crucial sentence."

Labour councillor Paul Godzik said: "This is an almost minute-by-minute account of how the press release was put together and approved and at no time did anyone change the line that Dema would take on the debts.

"I tried to get the council's audit committee to look into this in greater depth but that was blocked. I'm glad the parliament audit committee is continuing its investigation."

WHAT THE PRESS RELEASE SAID

"DEMA will take on The Gathering 2009 Ltd's remaining private sector obligations and, with the Council and other public sector organisations, will develop the assets and intellectual property rights to organise future events. A key next step will be to begin preparing a detailed business case considering the options for a 2012 event."