POLICE are investigating claims of sexual harassment in the Scottish Youth Parliament.
Those in charge of the charity have been accused of trying to cover up the scandal after taking two years to call in police.
The probe centres on an allegation that in 2016 a former Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYP) sent explicit pictures to a minor.
That person is also accused of sexually harassing two other former members of the SYP.
According to Buzzfeed News, the youth parliament’s management knew of the allegations and carried out their own internal investigation, finding no case to answer. It was only when journalists started asking questions about the seriousness of the allegations that the charity finally reported the matter to police.
The SYP is made up of around 150 people between the ages of 14 and 25.
A spokesperson for the charity said: “In March 2016, SYP received an allegation that one of our members had committed a serious offence.
“Upon receipt of this allegation, we took advice from child protection experts and from our lawyers. On their advice, SYP took forward a thorough investigation into the allegations, with the support of our lawyers.
“The investigation concluded that the serious allegations were false and that the member had no case to answer on any of the issues raised.”
In a letter sent to MSYPs yesterday, the parliament’s management asked them not to speak about the police probe on social media or in private, and to avoid speaking to journalists.
“The Code of Conduct is still very much in place, and any breaches of its terms may result in disciplinary action,” they warn.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Inquiries are at a very early stage and it has not yet been established if anyone is reporting a crime.”
The force’s Public Protection Unit is providing “specialist support”.
In an internal disciplinary document seen by one news site, an MSYP claimed that there was a problem of sexism in the parliament, saying women did not “feel safe”.
The SYP concluded that the allegations were unsubstantiated, and the MSYP who claimed there was a sexism problem was then threatened with disciplinary action by the CEO, Ben McKendrick, for risking “reputational damage” to the parliament.
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