Ex-councillor faces moved cash charges

A FORMER councillor has appeared in court charged with offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Gordon Beurskens is accused of “acquiring and using criminal property” by embezzling more than £85,000 from an elderly couple.

The indictment was continued without plea when it was called for the first time before Sheriff Vinit Khurana at Livingston Sheriff Court yesterday.

Beurskens, 49, was granted time to discuss his position with his lawyer.

He is alleged to have made a series of transfers, transactions and withdrawals between pensioners James and Janet McQue’s bank accounts, his own and his partner’s without their lawful authority.

The charge alleges that Beurskens committed the offences on numerous occasions between August 2006 and August 2009.

Beurskens was West Lothian Council’s Action to Save St John’s Hospital member for Whitburn and Blackburn, until May this year. He chaired the authority’s audit and performance committees.

Trial has been fixed for next month.