Zoo smear campaign got bosses suspended

Claims against Gary Wilson, above, and Iain Valentine were unfounded

In a stormy annual general meeting of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which runs the zoo, board members revealed details of a malicious smear campaign.

The event, at Murrayfield Stadium, followed the emergency meeting held two weeks ago that saw zoo chairman Donald Emslie forced to resign.

Board trustees bowed to pressure from society members and confirmed that the pair had been suspended over allegations of "serious financial concern".

However, they were cut off mid-speech by Mr Valentine's wife, who broke her silence to berate the society for the way it had carried out the investigation into her husband.

As Dr Tom Mitchell, chair of the audit and risk committee, and a RZSS board trustee, told the AGM that the "allegations in relation to Gary and Iain contained elements of serious financial concern", Mrs Valentine shouted "point of order", before taking the microphone.

Mrs Valentine told hundreds of society members: "I have kept my silence for seven-and a-half weeks in this enforced purdah, but I feel compelled to say I am still waiting to hear why my husband has been suspended.

"And it's completely out of order, at a meeting like this, where the man is not here to defend himself, for you (speaking to Dr Mitchell] to stand there and say that the reason he has been suspended is an actual allegation of . . . I know that that is not the case, otherwise we would have surely been told by now."

Afterwards, speaking through tears, she told the Evening News: "I just wish he (Dr Mitchell] had spoken to me before tonight. We haven't even been told what these allegations are over. You can't understand how difficult this is for us."

Just before the outburst, Jane Green, RZSS trustee and convenor of the Law Society of Scotland's Employment Law Specialisation Panel, who is closely involved in the investigations, said the "malicious" anonymous employee had compiled a "dirty dossier".

She added: "I have been an employment lawyer for 20 years and I have never seen something so malicious."

Although police have not been involved, Dr Mitchell added that the findings would now be submitted to detectives.

Wilson, the zoo's chief operating officer, has been cleared of all allegations and will return to work on June 1.

Although the investigation into Valentine has been completed, but not yet published, every allegation has been declared unfounded.

GOING WILD

WHILE the AGM of the RZSS ended shortly after the dramatic stand-off between Mrs Valentine and the board, a range of accusations had been levelled at trustees.

The meeting itself had to be postponed because the yearly financial report, which members had been due to vote on, reached just three of the members present after being posted late.

Members were told income had fallen by 1.1 million from 2009. Grants and legacies fell by 650,000 to 1.3m, while retail and catering reduced by 450,000 to 2.9m.

Members were told the pandas' lease would cost 1m per year for the next ten years, but that their arrival is expected to boost visitor numbers.

A further AGM to vote on the state of the accounts will be held at a later date.