The disguises of the 'lay members' of the Edinburgh Committee circuit revealed ...

The Committee Circuit of Edinburgh - one of the great "Gangs of Crooks" running Scotland these days ....

A few of you who have contacted me have raised the issue of Committee Membership around the various 'professions' .. such as solicitors, medical services, financial services, etc ..... and, like me, most of you have experienced problems when complaints or issues have been dealt with a particular "Complaints Committee" or similarly named body which has looked at what happened to your case ....

The thing is, as many of you are realising now, is that most of the Committee Members around the various Edinburgh cliques ... sit on each others Committees ... and this is one of the reasons why complaints have got nowhere in many important cases over the decades of the existence of this structure ....

Lay Members - those who are supposed to be 'independent' 'lay people' - having nothing to do, supposedly, with the profession's Committee they sit on, are, more usually, relatives of either politicians, political party workers, local government officials, or members of other professions who have been brought on to a Committee in the guise of an ordinary person, to fiddle the complaint ....

Over the years, I have discovered some great examples of this kind of Committee Member 'placement' by the professions & the Executive - to make sure no one gets anywhere with complaints .... we have had examples such as the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman sitting on other regulatory Committees such as the Instutite of Chartered Accountants of Scotland ... and senior members of the medical services sitting on the likes of the Scottish Legal Aid Board ... and 'lay members' of the Law Society Complaints Committees sitting on political quangos, Police Boards, and a raft of other favoured places - all to make sure that when you are ripped off or mistreated by the 'so-called' professional you have used as a paid service ... .nothing happens to them .... not very surprising then that complaints against the likes of crooked lawyers, bent accountants, and negligent doctors, haven't got anywhere ....

In one stark case, I came across a Priest, who sat on a Law Society Complaints Committee as a 'Lay Member'. He was so enthralled by the 'wine & steak' dinner circuit which he had involved himself in at the Law Society, that he just couldn't keep his mouth shut, and had to write a letter to "The Scotsman" Letters to the Editor section ... condemning all those who challenged the authenticity & impartiality of the self-regulatory complaints system of lawyers in Scotland - you know .. the crooked set up run by the Law Society of Scotland which the Executive is now having to change ....

Well, while this Priest was protesting the greatness of his new masters at the Law Society and demanding that we, the public, should all shut up and let those at the Client Relations Department of the Law Society continue to fiddle complaints & protect crooked lawyers ... he had totally forgotten about his 'vocation to God' - something which, I assume, gave him the calling to be a Priest in the first place ... and nowhere in his letter at all, did he ever raise the fact that he was a Priest, other than when it came to giving his address at the end of the letter ....

After reading such a letter, of course, I had to investigate further .. and found out quite a bit about what was going on and how this Priest had ruled mainly in favour of crooked lawyers in his Committee dealings .... so I wrote a letter to his Archbishop asking why this Priest seemed to have placed his helping crooked lawyers rip off & destroy people above, his vocation to God ..... and not long after that of course, he 'retired' from his position on the Complaints Committee ... but the staggering concept remained .. a Priest ... sitting on Complaints Committees of a professional organisation ... which had tormented so many and even caused the deaths & suicides of people ?? ... how many mortal sins have gone unrepented here I wonder ..

Another example came to light, where a senior member of the Mental Welfare Commission was also on the Scottish Legal Aid Board .... want to know what happend to cases where the two organisations interests collided ? .... well, you guess right ... not a lot !

The Police Boards throughout Scotland are one of the worst offenders of this type of Committee Member placement .. but you all know that anyway, so that's ok - just don't expect any complaints about the cops to go anywhere - because of course, they don't ! - and with Mr X sitting on Mr Y's regulatory Committee, but also being his cousin, or banker, or doctor, or whatever - you can expect your complaint against Mr Y to be swept under the carpet ....

If you are wondering about the Scottish Parliament's part in all this ... well, a few of those connected to msps mps, and other long time politicians, also sit on such regulatory Committees in the cosy gang which has sprung up in Edinburgh over the past few decades .... and of course, the Scottish Parliament's own way of dealing with complaints against msps and staff is now legendary in terms of its corruptness .... and exemption from the likes of the Freedom of Information Act, which the Law Society also made themselves exempt from too ...

You know ... most journalists in the Edinburgh newspapers know all this anyway ... so, why isn't there a wee bit more attention to this ? because it's a hell of a big conflict of interest .... which has proliferated all over the place without anyone doing a damn thing about it ....