THE SNP have gone on the attack as questions continue to be asked about the Scottish Government’s signing of a £10 billion memorandum of understanding with two Chinese companies.
Reports yesterday claimed Norway’s oil fund had blacklisted one of the companies involved in the deal because of concerns over corruption.
Our sister paper, The Herald, reported that China Railway Group Limited (CRG) had been found guilty of bribing Chinese government officials to secure lucrative public contracts.
That company’s subsidiary China Railway No. 3 Engineering Group Co. Ltd (CR3), was one of the three signatories to a memorandum of understanding, along with SinoFortone.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, Willie Rennie, today wrote to the Nicola Sturgeon, asking if she knew of the CR3’s history.
Rennie wrote: “I hope you will accept that the manner in which this MOU was agreed, with details only emerging in the Chinese media, raises legitimate questions over the degree of scrutiny that these companies were put under before the deal was signed.
“Last night, the infrastructure secretary suggested he was happy with the track record of the companies who are signatories to the MOU. This was before the reports over alleged ties to corruption emerged.
“Did you know, before you signed the MOU, that the parent company of the China Railway No. 3 Engineering Group has been blacklisted by the Norwegian Government because of the risk of ‘gross corruption’?
“We all want to see new investment coming to Scotland to create jobs and boost growth. But I hope you would agree that it is also important that proper due diligence is completed before entering into agreements, to ensure that the companies we are working with are not involved in dubious or illegal practices.”
A spokesman for the SNP said the memorandum was about securing “jobs, investment and economic growth in Scotland”.
“This memorandum of understanding will enable discussions to take place about opportunities for investment and job creation in Scotland.
“This process is at a very early stage, there is no confirmed investment and no specific set of projects being discussed. Full due diligence will be carried out on any projects and investors that come forward.
“When the UK Tory Government is courting investment from China in nuclear power plants, Welsh Labour are welcoming Chinese investment in Anglesey and the Lib Dems former Treasury minister is vice president of a Chinese-backed investment bank, this is pure hypocrisy from the opposition.”
The party also said there had been no discussions between ministers and SNP donor, Brian Souter, regarding Sinofortone.
The businessman had been quoted on the SinoFortone website as saying the memorandum was “a very positive step for Scotland to attract investment of this nature”.
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