FORMER Labour kingpin Jim McCabe has admitted he is “friends” with a leading security industry figure who secured £18 million in council contracts.
The ousted North Lanarkshire leader has dismissed innuendo that his long-standing relationship with Tony Kane, founder of Scotshield, has had any bearing on procurement processes at the local authority.
The veteran politician has also denied that his friendship or council contracts helped his daughter Natalie in getting a job at Scotshield as the firm’s office manager.
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Speaking to The Herald, the 75-year-old said: “I know Tony Kane. He is a friend of mine. At no time did I approach him to get my daughter a job. And that had nothing to do with Tony Kane getting work at North Lanarkshire or anywhere else. He got it through proper channels.
“As regards Scotshield, my daughter got her job there on her merits, not from any interference by me at any time. She is office manager there.”
Mr McCabe last week declared “I am not corrupt” as The Herald revealed he was named in a wide-ranging whistleblowing report submitted to The Herald and North Lanarkshire Council last week.
The veteran’s successor as leader of the council, Jim Logue, reacted to the report by ordering an immediate “corruption” investigation.
The Herald can reveal that Mr McCabe’s relationship with Mr Kane and Natalie McCabe’s work with Scotshield is cited in the whistleblowing report.
Mr Kane sold Scotshield last year to a company called SPIE. Its Scottish managing director, Will Smith, denied any connection between Ms McCabe’s job and council contracts.
Mr Smith said: “We can confirm that we employ a female relative of Jim McCabe, former North Lanarkshire Council leader. The employee in question has worked as a service administrator at Scotshield since November 2009.
“Neither her status as a relative of Mr McCabe, nor her job at SPIE, leads her to play any part in, or have influence over, SPIE Scotshield’s contract procurement.”
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Scotshield has secured more than £18m-worth of contracts from North Lanarkshire council since 2006 for everything from CCTV to fire and security alarms, according to information obtained by The Herald under Freedom of Information laws. The most recent contract was awarded in 2013 for CCTV services. That runs until 2018.
Some council insiders dismiss claims that a senior councillor could have a significant impact on such major procurement contracts – which are handled by officials, not politicians. The Herald last year learned through FoI that Mr McCabe had not been represented at any committee meeting awarding work to Scotshield.
Mr McCabe said: “You have always got concerns about procurement. But there is no way that any one person or councillor would have access to all decisions. We only get the final recommendations over who gets the contract. Procurement is procurement.
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“Under no circumstances am I corrupt and I have never been corrupt.”
Friends of Mr McCabe have linked the most recent allegations to the brutal civil war currently underway in North Lanarkshire Labour. Further resignations have not been ruled out.
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