Salmond criticised over BSkyB ‘exclusive’ homecoming broadcast rights offer
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has been criticised for failing to tell a Holyrood inquiry he had offered Sky TV "exclusive" broadcast rights for Scottish Homecoming event - the Gathering.
Saturday’s issue of The Scotsman reported that Salmond was summoned by the Scottish Parliament’s public audit committee as part of its inquiry into 2009’s the Gathering, which left the now defunct organising company with debts of over £500,000.
The Scotsman claims that Tartan Silk PR owner Martin Hunt is still owed a debt of £10,000 by the event organiser.
Hunt revealed to the newspaper that the First Minister has also failed to reveal to the inquiry that he had offered free coverage and hospitality to event Rupert Murdoch’s media companies.
The offer was declined by Murdoch, but still saw Labour chairman Hugh Henry accuse Salmond of attempting to make ‘private deals’ to his ‘own personal agenda’.
The criticism follows the publications of a number of documents highlighting the First Minister’s meetings with Murdoch.
The criticism of Salmond follows the publication of a raft of documents that showed the First Minister had asked Murdoch to be his "guest of honour" at the Gathering, which the SNP administration subsidised with a taxpayer-funded loan of £180,000.
A spokesman for Salmond told The Scotsman: "As Hugh Henry must know, it was actually discussed at the public audit committee at the time that the Gathering as a private company had been looking for a broadcaster to buy TV rights and thus generate more revenue."