Employees to sue taxpayer backed talent business over unpaid fees

A SPORTS promotion firm launched with £1 million of Scottish taxpayers' cash is facing court action from former employees who claim they are owed unpaid salaries and fees by the celebrity backed company.

TalentNation was given Scottish Enterprise funds to help it start up, and also has investments from sporting stars such as Scotland football internationalists Kenny Miller, Gary Naismith, Gary Caldwell and Scott Brown.

However, it has now emerged that the firm, which was launched to unearth young sporting talent, is being pursued by former employees and contractors who claim they have not been paid.

The firm, which Scottish Enterprise still has a stake in, has bases in Lanarkshire and London and is run by former Scottish Sun editor Steve Sampson.

Scottish Enterprise told The Scotsman that it would eventually "exit" TalentNation, but defended its interest in the company saying the decision to hand the cash to the firm had been made on "a commercial basis".

Former employee Craig MacKenzie claims he is owed more than 5,000 for work he had completed for TalentNation and confirmed he was taking legal action against the firm.

He said: "I am one of 15 people who is taking action over unpaid fees. TalentNation owes me about 5,200 which has been confirmed in writing by both the finance director and Steve Sampson.

"However, I am one of the fortunate ones because at least I have this in writing. Steve is an extremely engaging guy but nevertheless I want my money and then I want to move on."

Mr MacKenzie said the legal firm of Jeffrey Aitken in Glasgow is representing the former contractors and staff.

Alastair Gillies, a partner at the legal firm, said: "I can confirm that we are acting for clients who are pursuing claims in relation to TalentNation."

However, a spokesman for TalentNation claimed that any dispute would be solved "amicably" and predicted the case would not come to court.

The spokesman added: "We had to lose some people on the commercial side in favour of an agency giving better value. It's an issue which we believe will be amicably solved."

The company disputes the claims that it is being sued by 15 former employees and says that just several people are in dispute with it.

A spokeswoman for Scottish Enterprise said: "We invested 1million in the company in December 2009, alongside other private investors.

"All of our investments are made on a commercial basis, with the expectation that we will successfully exit from the company at a given point, allowing proceeds to be reinvested in other growing Scottish companies."