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Scottish Government officials’ bid to ‘tip-ex out’ name of Chinese firm in £10bn memorandum

The First Minister signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with SinoFortone and China Railway No 3 Engineering Group (CR3) in 2016.
The First Minister signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with SinoFortone and China Railway No 3 Engineering Group (CR3) in 2016.

Scottish Government officials tried to “tip-ex out” the name of a Chinese firm linked to human rights abuses from a controversial £10bn investment agreement.

The SNP administration sought to silence critics of its memorandum with China by releasing a tranche of emails between its officials and potential investors from SinoFortone and China Railway Group (CR3), who are eyeing up Scotland for major energy, housing and transport projects.

But the publication triggered fresh criticism after the documents revealed Government attempts to redact CR3 from the document and the depth of involvement of billionaire SNP donor Brian Souter.

It also prompted an accusation that the Scottish Government made misleading statements about whether specific projects were discussed after an email revealed the First Minister was “delighted” the firms had “engaged in such a positive way with the initial project proposals”.

Willie Rennie, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, said the release of information confirmed his “worst fears” over the agreement.

“These are devastating revelations and far from clearing the Government in this regard I think it makes it worse,” he told Holyrood during an economy debate.

He said officials had “tip-exed out” mention of CR3 in the memorandum of understanding and press statements, but did not see fit to carry out due diligence. Amnesty International has condemned the firm for human rights abuses.

Scottish Labour’s Jackie Baillie said the Government misled the public by saying Mr Souter was not involved in discussions when the emails suggest he played a key role.

The Scottish Government said the release of information proved discussions with the Chinese firms were at an early stage with “not a penny” of actual investment agreed and no specific projects on the table.

Mr Brown said: “The full set of papers we are releasing shows that the approach taken by the Scottish Government to potential investment in Scotland was entirely appropriate throughout the process.”

A spokesman for Sir Brian said: “Souter Investments had exploratory discussions with SinoFortone and a number of other parties regarding investing together in Scotland.

“However, as made clear to the company and the Scottish Government, the investment opportunities were not aligned to our criteria.

“Nonetheless, we continue to view foreign investment as a very positive step for Scotland.”