West Lothian councillor facing fraud charges

Dec 17 2009 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

A WEST Lothian councillor is facing calls to step down from official duties as he stands accused of alleged financial fraud.

Hospital campaigner Gordon Beurskens and a 50-year-old woman have been arrested and charged in relation to alleged incidents dating over a three-year period.

A report has been passed to the Procurator Fiscal in Edinburgh who must now decide what action to take next.

Mr Beurskens, 46, was elected on an Action to Save St John’s Hospital ticket in May 2007.

The SNP have a two-seat majority on West Lothian Council thanks to the support of Councillor Beurskens and his fellow hospital campaigners Ellen Glass, John Cochrane and Conservative Provost Tom Kerr.

At the moment Councillor Beurskens is chair of the council’s audit committee and performance committee.

He is also a member of the development control committee, the avoidance of disputes committee and various others.

The councillor’s register of interest states that he is a director of a property firm called ABW Consultants (Scotland) Limited.

Now his political rivals in the West Lothian Council Labour Group have demanded that he give up his roles until the allegations are dealt with.

Graeme Morrice, leader of the Labour group, said: “West Lothian Councillor Gordon Beurskens was arrested and charged with alleged financial fraud.

“In view of this, West Lothian Council Labour Group are demanding that Councillor Beurskens steps down from all his council positions until the outcome of his trial.

“We are not making any presumption of his guilt or otherwise but due to the serious nature of the situation we believe it is in the interests of public confidence that Councillor Beurskens is no longer in a position of responsibility during this time.”

But council leader Peter Johnston hit back at the Labour councillors and accused them of hypocrisy.

He said: “In terms of the alleged charges there is not much I can say other than it is a police matter.

“However, I find the Labour group’s stance pretty bizarre.

“They seem to have one set of principles for others and another set for members of the Labour party.

“Maybe they should put their principles into practice before they start to criticise others.

“Natural justice shows that people are innocent until proven guilty and we will have to wait and see what charges if any are brought against Councillor Beurskens.”

A Crown Office spokesperson said: “We can confirm that a report has been submitted to the Procurator Fiscal in Edinburgh concerning a 46-year-old male and a 50-year-old female, in connection with incidents between August 2006 and December 2009.

“The report is under consideration.”

A spokesman for Lothian and Borders police said: “A 46-year-old man and a 50-year-old woman have been arrested and charged in connection with alleged fraudulent activity in West Lothian.”

A West Lothian Council spokesman said it would not be appropriate for them to comment further.

In an unrelated matter the Standards Commission will meet on Monday to discuss an investigation into SNP Councillor Jim Dickson and Councillor Beurskens.

Both were referred to the Standards Commission after an investigation into the pair identified potential breaches of the councillors’ code of conduct.

The Office of the Chief Investigating Officer (CIO) — appointed by the Scottish Ministers to investigate and report on complaints alleging a breach of the code — looked into allegations about the councillors’ behaviour on planning issues on West Lothian Council.

And after studying the evidence and carrying out numerous interviews with councillors and council officers the CIO have passed their final report to the Standards Commission.