Controversial council chief forced to quit - without his huge pay-off

JOHN Lindsay, the chief executive of East Lothian Council, was last night forced to relinquish control of the authority and is now unlikely to receive much of the controversial £130,000 in redundancy money he had persuaded councillors to pay him.

After a day of meetings at the council's headquarters in Haddington, it was announced that yesterday would be Mr Lindsay's last day in charge.

He will remain on the payroll until his retirement at the end of July but will not go back to work when he returns from a two-week holiday at the end of this month.

The council stressed Mr Lindsay had not been suspended and said the decision had been made after an "amicable meeting" between him and David Berry, the SNP leader of the authority.

It is understood Mr Lindsay's statement earlier this week comparing his treatment by the media to that of the Virginia Tech killer considerably weakened his position.

In an interview with his local newspaper, he said the "maniac who ran amok at that college in America, murdering 33 people, never got treated like I did".

The decision by the new SNP/Lib Dem administration to investigate the payment - agreed by the previous Labour-run council - also put pressure on him to step aside.

Earlier this week, Mr Lindsay had said he was withdrawing from the agreement to take the voluntary redundancy package, but he backed down from that yesterday.

A statement released by the local authority said: "The council has confirmed that it is in the process of reaching a negotiated settlement with Mr Lindsay in relation to his redundancy."

It went on: "It has been agreed that Mr Lindsay will not return to work before he is formally due to leave the council on 31 July, 2007. Mr Lindsay has not been suspended."

Alex McCrorie, the council's director of corporate finance and IT, will become acting chief executive from Monday. He had been selected by the previous council to take over but promised not to do so after Mr Lindsay's U-turn earlier this week.

The council refused to give any further details of the deal but The Scotsman understands that councillors will now wait for a report into the redundancy from Audit Scotland, the public spending watchdog.

Michael Russell, a Nationalist MSP for the South of Scotland region, said: "It is now time to draw a line under this matter.

"This has done no good for the reputation of Scottish local government and the lessons can now be drawn in terms of transparency and accountability."

NOT A QUIET RETIREMENT

15 Feb 2006: John Lindsay announces his retirement.

1 March: The Scotsman reveals retirement package. He will get more than 100,000 redundancy plus 200,000 retirement pay.

2 March: Council is reported to Independent Accounts Commission over payment.

6 March: The Scotsman reveals that Council is offering 200 vouchers for leaving employees with service same as Mr Lindsay.

12 April: Council announces it will appoint head of corporate finance, Alex McCrorie to replace Mr Lindsay, who will step down in July.

24 April: Audit Scotland launches an investigation.

4 May: Labour loses control of East Lothian Council.

9 May: The new SNP-Lib Dem coalition to review redundancy package.

16 May: Mr Lindsay announces he wants to stay in post.

17 May: Mr Lindsay attacks his treatment in the Press

18 May: Mr Lindsay resigns.

How sum will be worked out

MR LINDSAY'S redundancy payment was based on his chief executive's salary of 103,000. Public spending watchdog Audit Scotland is understood to be looking at whether it should have been based on a smaller figure.

The post of "chief executive/director of the department of the chief executive" was made redundant. The watchdog may conclude that the redundancy should be based on the part of the salary relating to the director role.

That will mean Mr Lindsay will be paid less than the 130,000 originally agreed.