Prosecutors swap court time for international jet travel. SCOTLAND’S Prosecutors based in Edinburgh at the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) - are now spending as much time in the air jetting between international destinations than chasing some of Scotland’s biggest crooks, tax dodgers, gangsters & serial offenders.
Figures obtained by the media show the Lord Advocate, Frank Mulholland and his team of staff jetting off to 39 international destinations and choosing air travel over other modes of transport for 143 domestic UK flights – all funded by public cash.
Hong Kong, Mauritius, Taiwan South Africa, Australia, Malta, San Francisco, and New York are listed among the international destinations visited by Crown Office employees on the taxpayer air junket ticket.
The figures (Destination & number of flights) reveal: International flights 2012/13: Albania 2, Amsterdam 10, Brussels 1, Budapest 1, Cape Town 1, Charles de Gaulle 2, Cologne/Bonn 1, Copenhagen 2, Frankfurt 1, Lisbon 2, Luxembourg 4, Malta 1, Pula 1, Rome Leonardo de Vinci 2, Washington Dulles Int 5, 2012/13 Total 36
International flights 2013/14: Amsterdam 12, Basle 1, Brussels 1, Bucherest, Romania 2, Canberra 1, Charles de Gaulle 5, Hobart 3, Krakow 1, Luxembourg 3, Madrid 2, Taipei 1, Vilnius 1, Washington Dulles Int 1, Total 34
UK Domestic flights 2012/13: Aberdeen 2, Benbecula 2, Birmingham 1, Edinburgh 9, Glasgow 8, Inverness - Airport 2, Kirkwall 1, Lerwick, Shetland 1, London City 34, London Gatwick 7, London Heathrow 28, Manchester 2, Total 97.
UK Domestic flights 2013/14: Birmingham 4, Edinburgh 9, Glasgow 6, Inverness - Airport 4, Kirkwall 3, Lerwick, Shetland 14, London City 30, London Gatwick 9, London Heathrow 42, London Stansted 3, Stornoway 5, Total 131
The growing air junket habit at the Crown Office comes after the media exposed a bonus culture racket among Scots prosecutors – revealing Crown Office staff share bonus payoffs of more than £580,000 in just two years.
Yet, every year, the Edinburgh based Crown Office - which costs taxpayers a staggering £112.5 million every year – issues regular press releases claiming hard up prosecutors are busy chasing hundreds of criminal gangs and thousands of unknown gangsters and their ‘professional’ advisers – who hardly ever see the inside of a court room.
Recently the Crown Office has come in for criticism after a number of high profile and expensive prosecution flops which allowed criminals to walk free after prosecutors failed to do their job.
And in a number of cases presented by the Crown Office as successes for justice - a deeper look into the facts of the prosecutions and their outcomes revealed plea bargains and proceeds of crime seizures dwarfed by vast amounts of publicly funded legal aid paid to crooks.
Last week, BBC news reported a Perth drugs dealer had been allowed to keep £300K of his drugs profits - after high flying prosecutors cut a plea bargain deal.
The Crown Office and Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland have also been hit with criticism over their refusal to prosecute the driver of the Glasgow bin lorry tragedy which resulted in six ‘preventable’ deaths.
Another similar case where Prosecutors were criticised for a failure to act involved the deaths of two students, killed by a driver of a Range Rover in Glasgow in 2010. The Crown Office dropped their attempt to prosecute the driver in 2013. Both cases are now the subject of bids to begin private prosecutions.
The Scottish Sun reports:
CRIME FLY WITH ME: Taxpayers foot exotic trips bill
Prosecutors' £57K travel costs
Exclusive:by Russell Findlay Scottish Sun 03/01/2016
PROSECUTORS were blasted for splurging more than £57,000 of taxpayers' cash last year alone flying staff across the globe.
Hong Kong, Mauritius, Taiwan and New York were among 15 exotic destinations visited by Crown Office employees.
And since 2012, they have taken off on a total of 109 international flights to places like South Africa, Australia and Malta.
Yesterday, Tory MSP Alex Johnstone slammed the foreign travel bill as "appalling".
It comes as Finance Secretary John Swinney raised the Crown's budget by £400,000 to £112.5million for this year, despite massive public spending cuts elsewhere.
Mr Johnstone said: "Hard-working Scots will be appalled to learn their cash is going on flying staff out to far-flung destinations.
"If it's not to solve a crime, then they shouldn't be going — there are plenty of conferences and training events in the UK."
He added: "As the SNP are slashing budgets left, right and centre and local courts are closing, this does not represent good value."
The Crown, led by Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, racked up £29,504 on 39 international flights to meetings and conferences last year and £27,603 on 143 domestic trips.
The number of overseas flights has remained fairly steady over three years at 36, 34 then 39.
But domestic flights have increased sharply from 97 to 131, then 143 last year.
Amsterdam was the most common destination, with 30 trips since 2012. The Dutch city is a major travel hub and close to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Flights to Washington DC and Malta were in connection with the ongoing probe into the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
Scottish Labour justice spokesman Graeme Pearson said: "As prosecution services are finding it hard to deliver justice across our shrinking court system, I hope the authorities can justify the costs."
A Crown Office spokesman last night defended the outlay and insisted bosses "strive to provide the best value for the public purse".
He added: "Prosecutors are required to travel abroad in connection with the investigation of cases, in the support of international co-operation and to secure the extradition of individuals who have committed serious crimes.
"It is essential to ensure that Scottish interests are represented at meetings and conferences, which may make decisions which have far reaching consequences for the police, courts and people of Scotland.
"It would be irresponsible not to ensure that representation."
£26K SPLASHED ON JUDGES' JAUNTS
by Russell Findlay
JUDGES sparked controversy last year after we revealed they spent £26,000 of taxpayers' cash on overseas trips.
Top beaks flew out to destinations including Russia, Israel, Switzerland, Germany & France.
The most expensive jaunt was a £5,8000 visit to Canada by Lord Carloway, then Scotland's No2 judge. Lord Gill, the Lord President also spent five days on a £2,800 trip to Doha, Qatar, where he gave a speech on judicial ethics.
It came after he twice snubbed calls to appear in front of Holyrood's public petitions committee just 800 yards from his office.
Legal campaigner Peter Cherbi said: "Judges are supposed to sit in courts, not in jets."
The Judicial Office for Scotland also forked out public money for Lord Armstrong, Lord Boyd and Lady Dorrian to meet other European judges on a three-day trip to Luxembourg.
Lord Eassie travelled to legal events in St Gallen, Switzerland, and Yalta, Ukraine. Lady Clark spent four days in Tel Aviv, Israel, while Lord Hodge went to Paris.
Full details of overseas trips undertaken by Scottish judges are available here: Overseas Travel of Scotland’s Judges 2013-2014 & Judicial overseas trips & expenses claims 2010-2013
27 comments:
saw the judges were at it so decided to get in on the racket too
the entire justice system in Scotland is rotten to the core.ROTTEN and CORRUPT!
From what I hear of the 'prosecutors' they are well in bed with the 300 crime gangs
I see Lord Carloway is also a user of air junkets.Not good!
some of Scotland’s biggest crooks, tax dodgers, gangsters & serial offenders are also in the courts and at the Crown Office!
They cant even be bothered to show up in court with correct papers yet here you have Crown Office flying to San Francisco and beyond.I'll make a note of this,thanks.
Where does it say judges can fly around like heads of state and deliver lectures on how everyone else has to submit to their dictatorial remit?
About time all this was put a stop to.
Judges are not the respectable bunch they claim to be - Gill's display of anger in the earlier post tells us all we need to know about judges.
Somewhere in among all those trips there will be brown envelopes and bungs galore!They are not flying around just to talk about cases there is a lot of off the books stuff being talked about and palms pressed at our expense!
and here is Lindsey Miller bragging about recovering £1 from a criminal but not bragging about all these flights!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-35382022
£1 'confiscated' from £600,000 jewel thief
A confiscation order for £1 has been granted against a man who was part of a gang which stole more than £600,000 of goods from a Glasgow shopping centre.
Walter McRobbie, 55, was jailed for 30 months for his part in the raid on the Savoy Shopping Centre in August 2011.
The haul, including jewellery and goods worth £606,071, was never recovered.
The order for £1 was granted after Glasgow Sheriff Court heard McRobbie currently has no assets. The Crown can reapply if he acquires future wealth.
Lindsey Miller, procurator fiscal for organised crime, said: "After a detailed forensic examination of the accused's accounts, it has been established that he has no money or assets available at present to repay his criminal earnings.
"We cannot confiscate funds that do not exist, but we have today in effect secured a financial life sentence.
"The order for the full value of the stolen goods will remain active against him until every penny is paid back, however long that takes."
Following a previous trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court, McRobbie and two others were convicted of five charges of breaking into various parts of the Savoy Centre and stealing goods.
The court heard that they forced their way into an office and four retail units including City Gold Centre, where they stole jewellery and money, and Really Fabulicious - stealing a number of bags.
Robert McColl, 52, was jailed for two years and Patrick Kilna, 48, was sentenced to 27 months for their parts in robbery.
Little wonder the Crown Office couldnt be bothered to look into Christopher Hales and countless other cases put to them as the PFs are too into snorting public funds and holidays around the world
Did you see what Sheriff Foulis said in that BBC story on the drug dealer? In his comments he made sure the court was aware the amount falls squarely on the Fiscal depute..
Fiscal depute Carol Whyte told Perth Sheriff Court: "A settlement has been agreed. There is a joint minute for sums currently being held by the Police Service of Scotland."
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said: "So it is agreed that I should make a confiscation order in the sum of £129,908.70? That is what I will do."
Ms Whyte then asked the court to record that Blair's "proceeds from his general criminal conduct amount to £428,853.29".
I watched a case at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and the judge made some pretty bad remarks about the Procurator Fiscal and the evidence almost said he was lying through his teeth then the fiscal asks for adjournment and few months later drops charge so yes crown office are not doing their job properly or are corrupt they should be made to say what their flying is for not just where they go and the cost
@ 22 January 2016 at 20:52
Good points ...
@ 23 January 2016 at 00:22
A confiscation order for £1 ... considering the costs of the case they are unlikely to recover much to brag about ...
@ 23 January 2016 at 10:40
Otherwise known as perks and fingers in the pie before justice ...
@ 23 January 2016 at 11:41
A pity the Sheriff did not say more ... clearly the figures are way off to the point Scotgov's Cashback for Communities is losing out to drug profits once again, courtesy of the Crown Office.
@ 23 January 2016 at 13:07
Send in more details of this case you refer to, could be a good one for media scrutiny and add to the bigger picture ...
Yes they will keep helping themselves because they are the law. I find it difficult to find words to express my revulsion at these legalized crooks.
Anonymous said
Somewhere in among all those trips there will be brown envelopes and bungs galore!They are not flying around just to talk about cases there is a lot of off the books stuff being talked about and palms pressed at our expense!
22 January 2016 at 23:38
my thoughts exactly!
Sounds like another part of the corrupt establishment gone out of control no matter who is in charge the Crown Office do their own thing and get away with it constantly
Amsterdam seems to be a popular getaway for Mulholland's gang wonder what is going on there because the destinations do not tally with criminal cases on the go.
Just reading your blog tonight for first time, must say you are to be congratulated for putting all this information online about lawyers and their partners in crime.
I hope you ruin a few in the process and people pay attention for once instead of just blindly handing over their assets to some rat in a suit who is allowed to get away with blue murder just because they are a lawyer.
I see the judges traveled to Ukraine just before the war started and also been to the baltic states what are they really up to?
What I take away from this and your earlier one on the Crown office bonuses is they are as much crooked as the crooks they claim they are supposed to be chasing in court.Also that story on the guy who was selling secrets in the crown office well easy to see they are compromised by criminals as well as being crooked so not really deserving of any praise.
How on earth does it cost £112.5 million a year to run Crown Office prosecutors in a small country such as Scotland??
Something definitely amiss there considering the crap quality of justice!
Is it all going on junkets and airline tickets?
and dont forget the lists of fake and unidentifiable witnesses the Crown regularly present in court
Who ate all the pies-who ate all the pies Mulholland and his pie munchers did thats why they all fly abroad to see who makes the best so judge Gill NO NO doesn't have to eat out again before visiting parliament.
"Last week, BBC news reported a Perth drugs dealer had been allowed to keep £300K of his drugs profits - after high flying prosecutors cut a plea bargain deal."
This is very interesting, especially since plea-bargaining is a criminal offence in Scotland?
These joint minutes (where the prosecutor is representing the State and the accused) is unlawful for good reason because the prosecutor should not be put into a position of weakness by the lure of money in lieu of negotiating a prosecution success, in order to:
a) Make the prosecutors job easier
b) Means that the prosecutor de facto is acting in the interests of the accused by giving away ground and cash therefore, cannot be seen to be acting in the Public Interest , which they are employed to do?
c) Leaves the State prosecutor open to allegations of acting in favour of the accused for monetary benefit?
The police should investigate this case, with a view to prosecuting the State prosecutor and do a wider investigation into the wider use of these sharp practices?
It would seem that Crown Office Officials have made too many flights to serve their masters at the USA Government and have introduced the USA plea-bargaining system to Scotland unlawfully under the radar?
Anonymous said...
Little wonder the Crown Office couldnt be bothered to look into Christopher Hales and countless other cases put to them as the PFs are too into snorting public funds and holidays around the world
23 January 2016 at 10:40
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Of course, the real reason that the scandal involving Michelle Thompson MP's solicitor Christopher Hales was covered-up was because the Law Society of Scotland and the Crown Office had cut-a-deal to prevent Mr Hales from being sent to jail?
The Press's reporting of the scandal, inadvertently exposed the fact that a deal was cut and that these deals between the Law Society of Scotland and the Crown Office are commonplace, which adds grist to the mill that both the Law Society and the Crown Office are involved in operating an unlawful-two-tiered justice system, whereby many Scottish lawyers are considered to be protected and above-the-law?
Since this crime was exposed, the police have been silenced, Mulholland has pleaded to Parliament that a Public Inquiry should not take place and The Press have similarly been told they must not report the truth to the Scottish Public because 'It is not in the Public Interest for the Scottish Public to find out what the Law Society of Scotland and the Crown Office are getting up to behind the public's backs?'
Anonymous said...
They cant even be bothered to show up in court with correct papers yet here you have Crown Office flying to San Francisco and beyond.I'll make a note of this,thanks.
22 January 2016 at 19:28
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If the Crown Office are not hiding any dirty secrets from the public, then they should adopt the truth and transparency morals of the Diary of Injustice journalists and publish in full without redaction who benefited from these flights, how much each flight cost (standard, business or First Class) and the purpose of the flight, afteral these are publicly funded employees on public business and are there to serve the public and not vested interests?
Anonymous Anonymous said...
"Last week, BBC news reported a Perth drugs dealer had been allowed to keep £300K of his drugs profits - after high flying prosecutors cut a plea bargain deal."
This is very interesting, especially since plea-bargaining is a criminal offence in Scotland?
These joint minutes (where the prosecutor is representing the State and the accused) is unlawful for good reason because the prosecutor should not be put into a position of weakness by the lure of money in lieu of negotiating a prosecution success, in order to:
a) Make the prosecutors job easier
b) Means that the prosecutor de facto is acting in the interests of the accused by giving away ground and cash therefore, cannot be seen to be acting in the Public Interest , which they are employed to do?
c) Leaves the State prosecutor open to allegations of acting in favour of the accused for monetary benefit?
The police should investigate this case, with a view to prosecuting the State prosecutor and do a wider investigation into the wider use of these sharp practices?
It would seem that Crown Office Officials have made too many flights to serve their masters at the USA Government and have introduced the USA plea-bargaining system to Scotland unlawfully under the radar?
31 January 2016 at 13:02
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Do you not know the Perth sheriff court is the most corrupt & rotten to the core establishment in our country today?
Crown Office paid for all of Arlene Fraser's family to attend every appeal hearing including funding their visit to UKSC yet rape victims are denied fares to attend court to see their rapists sentenced.
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