Witch-hunt at Legal Complaints Commission 'ends at MacAskill's doorstep' as Justice officials forced to confirm leaks inquiry

SLCC once again under fire. Officials of the Scottish Government's Justice Department have been forced to admit a series of interventions with the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, over leaks to the media which depict the quango which handles consumer complaints against solicitors as more interested in protecting the legal profession than investigating actual complaints.

Diary of Injustice reveals SLCC’s secret leaks inquiry. As I revealed earlier last month, a witch hunt at the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission began after the Justice Department ordered an investigation into leaks which began in August 2008, one of which gave details on non Law Society staff at the SLCC who were being subjected to an attempt by the Law Society and Scottish Government to 'drive them out of the Commission, ensuring total control of the 'independent' SLCC by the legal profession itself.

You can read last month’s report on the witch-hunt at the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission here : 'Culture of fear' grips Scottish Legal Complaints Commission as Justice Department witch-hunt threatens whistleblower staff over leaks to media

You can read my earlier report on the leaks as they began at the SLCC here : Law Society target ‘outsider staff’ for exit at Complaints Commission as lawyers undermine attempts at independent regulation

Scottish Government initially denied any involvement. The Scottish Government was asked to explain why it had ordered an investigation at the SLCC, however officials initially sought to play down and deny, several times, that any such investigation, or even discussions between the SLCC and Justice Department took place. A Justice Department official would only admit : "Staffing is a matter for the SLCC. If they have concerns about security of their information then it is a matter for Eileen Masterman and her team."

Leaked SLCC papers show Justice Department ordered investigation. However, after initial denials from the Justice Department, a further leaked document quoted an SLCC meeting where mentions of “Action and impact arising from the unauthorised leak of information that was raised by the Justice Dept.” exposed the Government's account of matters as completely false. Justice Department officials were then hurriedly forced to admit they had directly intervened with the SLCC and demanded immediate action to curb any information reaching the public. Officials sought to justify their attempt to clamp down on dissent at the quango by claiming that when the leaks be some of the staff under suspicion were still employed by Scottish Ministers.

A Justice Department official sought to play down the leaks investigation and protect the Justice Secretary from involvement, claiming : "I had a very brief discussion with Jane Irvine in her capacity as Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman last summer when it seemed from your website and an approach that you made to her that you were receiving information about the Ombudsman’s staff."

The official went on "These members of staff were at that time employed by Scottish Ministers so it was appropriate that I should be made aware of any concerns. Jane and I discussed whether or not we thought there had been a breach in security and we concluded that there had not been. We agreed that it was unlikely the information was coming from the Ombudsman’s office because it was completely inaccurate and we therefore decided to take no further action.That is why there are no minutes or notes"

However, the Justice Department official had no explanation to offer for how the entire episode came to light in leaked documents from the SLCC (more yet to be published) which reported a meeting where the Justice Department raised the leaks issue and demanded action.

A Justice Department official on being handed a copy of one of the leaked documents said : "I have no idea why the matter was raised at a meeting of the SLCC in October. I was not at the meeting."

However, an insider at the SLCC countered "That is pure rubbish from the Government's point of view. We were all warned to shut up after these discussions between Jane Irvine and the Government. The fact of the matter is there has been a lot of inequality between members of staff at the SLCC and the Law Society want everyone out who isn't under their thumb."

"Law Society staff who transferred over were being paid higher salaries and were to be considered for more senior positions. Whoever denies that is a liar and they know it, and even though you reported it there is still an undercurrent of mistrust between Law Society staff and non Law Society staff."

"What I said last year to you stands, the present Scottish Government are simply allowing the Law Society to dictate terms to the SLCC and we are not able to perform our role as was intended under the previous administration which created the SLCC in the first place."

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill must have known his department intervened with SLCC. A senior source within the Government said however, he doubted the Justice Department’s explanation on the matter and pointed to the leaks of documents, and reports of bitter infighting within the Commission as a direct challenge to the reliability of the Government’s explanations.

He said “I doubt this was left to an official to clear up, considering there is a great deal of interest in your reporting of the matter and criticisms of regulation of the legal profession”.

“I understand the Cabinet Secretary for Justice knows all about what took place and probably wants to shut the whole discussion on leaks down because ultimately the quango is his responsibility and the people there are at his appointment.These reports of problems at the Commission are making life very difficult for those who want to keep control of regulating lawyers for themselves.”

“Clearly responsibility for this rests with Kenny MacAskill himself no matter who tries to throw themselves into the path of the oncoming train and the Law Society has to be stopped from gaining full control of the Commission if the public are to be properly protected”

The insider went on to refer to claims in the Justice Department’s statement there were “no minutes or notes” of the Government’s intervention with the SLCC on the leaks issue.

He said : “It is preposterous to claim there are no minutes or notes of such a matter given the importance of it and implications for the SLCC and the Justice Department and why did they even put such a thing in their statement. I regret to say I sense this issue is being covered up deliberately to protect people here in Government, at the SLCC and probably at the Law Society.”

SLCC Chairman Jane Irvine. The Commission’s Chairman, Jane Irvine was asked for comment on the situation, but refused. This does seem to leave the obvious impression the Commission is indeed in crisis, amid staffing problems, threats of resignation by its own members unless they get increased financial perks & insurance protection, and the intense layer of secrecy which the Commission has been operating under, seeking to blank out most Freedom of Information requests specifically to law journalists while releasing the same information to elements of the legal profession.

A brief history of leaked reports relating to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission :

The story that started the ball rolling on leaks at the SLCC : Law Society target ‘outsider staff’ for exit at Complaints Commission as lawyers undermine attempts at independent regulation

SLCC members demanded more perks or would resign. You can read an earlier article where the Commission members threatened their resignation over lack of perks and insurance cover, here : Legal Complaints Commission in crisis amid funds shortage & resignation threats over lack of insurance protection. The resignation threats came even though the SLCC had received a whopping £2 million of public money, and yet more was being paid in by the Scottish Government for demanded perks, as I reported here : MacAskill silent on taxpayers £2million 'write off' to lawyers quango as Complaints boss reveals Law Society defaulted on levies

I also reported that insiders to the Commission don’t even believe the SLCC is up to the job because of too much interference from the legal profession and a lack of will at the Scottish Government to protect it’s intended role, which you can read here : Insiders attack MacAskill's Legal Complaints Commission as 'a front' while millions go on quango which refuses to investigate crooked lawyers

Lets also not forget the SLCC seems to be so mired in problems it has to rely on a veil of secrecy to continue its operations, as I reported here : FOI disclosures censored to law journalists as MacAskill’s legal complaints commission prefers secrecy to public accountability

'Culture of fear' grips Scottish Legal Complaints Commission as Justice Department witch-hunt threatens whistleblower staff over leaks to media

While the culture of secrecy continues to breed at the beleaguered Scottish Legal Complaints Commission with the blanking out of FOI responses to inquiries from the media, allegations have now emerged that staff have been threatened with spying, possible prosecution and job losses over recent leaks of information which has heavily compromised the quango whose function is to investigate complaints against Scotland's crooked lawyers.

Leaked SLCC document ‘serious concerns on leaks’. Stunningly, in documents from the SLCC seen by this reporter, the Scottish Government’s Justice Department intervened yet again with the ‘independent’ commission, raising it’s ‘serious concerns’ over leaks made to the media which resulted in stories such as Law Society target ‘outsider staff’ for exit at Complaints Commission as lawyers undermine attempts at independent regulation being reported. Strong demands were made by representatives from the SNP controlled Scottish Government to “end the leaks or else there would be trouble", claimed an informed source yesterday.

MacAskill demanded leaks be plugged "or else". After the spectacular intervention from the Justice Department on behalf of Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, members of the commission's staff were allegedly given a 'friendly word in their ear', where the implication was that if anyone told the outside world, including the media, and me, what was really going on inside the SLCC, they would be sacked and possibly face prosecution for their whistle blowing.

Scottish Govt may use RIPSA surveillance ?. A source within the Government claimed “it was the determined intention of the Justice Department to plug any leaks at the SLCC, and if need be, RIPSA legislation would be used to discover the culprits and deal with them accordingly.” Although personally, I imagine it may well be more of a HBOS-FSA style cover up to silence the whistleblower, than a very public scandal which could ultimately damage the Government.

RIPSA, for those of you who do not know, is the anti-terrorist styled Regulation of investigatory Powers (Scotland) Act, which can authorise surveillance and spying on individuals where it is felt those who are the target of surveillance orders are breaking the law in some way as to threaten the fabric of society, or as it appears here, the fabric of crooked lawyers … You can find out more about the Scottish Government's approach to RIPSA here : Scottish Govt Covert Surveillance : Code of Practice

One insider to the Commission, on being asked about the witch-hunt broke down in tears, giving a full account of recent goings on, claiming "the whole thing was being orchestrated by the Law Society to get rid of those members of staff who transferred over from the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman."

The insider went on : "The Law Society want full control over the Commission and it staffed by their own people and the Government seem to be quite happy to let them get their way".

I have to say, I fully support the ex members of staff of the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman’s Office. I see those few people as a balance to the Law Society’s infiltration of the organisation, and a hope, sadly now perhaps lost, that the public could have had a fairer hearing in complaints against solicitors.

However, as a ‘seasoned observer’ of all things legal, it does seem to me there is an organised attempt to undermine the work & credibility of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, both by the Law Society of Scotland, and the Scottish Government itself.

MacAskill 'more determined to hunt whistleblowers than attackers of Law Chief’. A former Council Member of the Law Society, condemned the apparent witch hunt against SLCC staff & media journalists investigating crooked lawyers, claiming the Government seemed to be spending more time on protecting the Law Soceity’s position on regulation than pursuing the attackers of the Law Society’s former Chief Accountant, Leslie Cumming, who was injured in a mafia style ‘hit’ in early 2006.

He commented : "It looks like the Scottish Government are more determined to conceal the truth at the SLCC and protect rogue lawyers than discover who tried to kill the Law Society Chief Accountant Leslie Cumming and they still haven't got anyone for that".

I agree wholeheartedly of course, given the fact that three years on, despite the then Law Society Chief Executive Douglas Mill attempting to blame the Cumming attack on all & sundry, no one has yet been brought to justice for that vicious incident, which has amazingly gone unexplained for all this time.

The ex Law Society Council member went on : “This kind of conduct by the SLCC and the Government is not doing the profession or the public any good and what was to be an independent commission to raise the standards of regulation and public confidence in the legal profession is not happening.”

So, exactly how did we get to this point that the SNP Government are allegedly threatening to spy on, prosecute and sack whistleblowers of an 'independent' authority, just to protect the secrets of crooked lawyers and the legal profession ?

Is it really the case that RIPSA is actually being used by the Scottish Government or the SLCC, against SLCC staff members, journalists and law bloggers to discover the source of leaks at the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission ?

Well, at least to ascertain the intentions of Government, we don't need to look any further than the actions & words of the Justice Secretary, Mr MacAskill, who himself told us very clearly what side he is on in the debate on regulation of crooked lawyers :

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill will protect crooked lawyers from those who misrepresent them ?

John Swinney – didn’t do ‘a MacAskill’. Contrast Kenny MacAskill's actions, with those of John Swinney, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, and a key member of the Scottish Government who enjoys a lot of cross party respect & public popularity for his work, as he took on the worst elements of the Law Society of Scotland, and exposed a key part of the Law Society's policy of protection for crooked lawyers by taking former Law Society boss Douglas Mill to task over the content of secret memos which stalled complaints & claims against several firms of crooked lawyers which, even after Mill's tirade against Mr Swinney still remain to be resolved !

John Swinney battles with ex-Law Society Chief Douglas Mill - Mr MacAskill would never have done such a thing as we now know ..

A Government spokesman could not be contacted today for comment, although allegedly an explanation will be forthcoming, which I will bring you in a further report on the matter.

Denials all round as usual perhaps ? ... but we all know what "denials" means these days as just like in the Banking crisis which has brought our coveted financial institutions to their knees, denials no longer work on people now suspicious of most of the professions & politicians motives when their interests coincide … and that realm of suspicion also includes the current Scottish Government.

Oh one last thing, for anyone interested whether the SLCC have improved their culture of secrecy towards Freedom of Information requests in response to my previous article here : FOI disclosures censored to law journalists as MacAskill’s legal complaints commission prefers secrecy to public accountability.

Well, the answer is ….. they have not, as you can see from some of the SLCC’s latest releases, this time on the mega top secret subject of … “mediation” :

It seems “Mediation” is also a taboo word at the SLCC as more blacked out FOIs reveal …