Secret love affair between top officials at Scottish Borders Council led to cover up & HUGE PAYOFF in battle for top posts

Details of secret love affair reveal demise of one & questionable payoff. A SECRET LOVE AFFAIR between two married top officials at a south of Scotland local authority and the resulting fall out which left one cast aside while the other remained at work has been linked to a series of scandals & cover ups which insiders allege were the result of attempts by certain officials to keep long held posts and control of £262 million in debt Scottish Borders Council. The Council was recently the scene of a change of power where the Conservatives were replaced by the Scottish National Party in a power sharing deal with local Liberal Democrat Councillors and ‘turncoat’ independents.

The two officials, who cannot be named for legal reasons but who are well known in the Scottish Borders are understood to have had a lengthy love affair, eventually leading to a cataclysmic demise for one at the council, while the other shot skyward at the beleaguered local authority which has been buffeted by a series of staff bullying scandals, questionable retirement payoffs and millions of pounds lost in failed Icelandic Banks.

Speaking to the media, Council sources have let it be known one of the officials involved in the love affair has received a massive taxpayer funded payout after insiders claimed he was effectively forced out of his job by unnamed senior officials of the Council, who themselves were doing everything to keep their own long held posts and grip on power.

Leaked papers being studied by journalists engaged in an investigation of SBC’s finances & internal power struggles appear to show officials of the Council arranged the quiet exit of the unnamed party, to ensure one of their own choice could take over the job of the exiting individual. This is in fact what actually happened, and raises questions over the truthfulness of announcements connected to departures of Council staff.

No one at Scottish Borders Council was prepared to give official comment on the allegations.

£262 MILLION POUND DEBT MOUNTAIN AT SCOTTISH BORDERS COUNCIL :

While key officials at Scottish Borders Council fight to maintain their long held positions and the secrecy over the love affair between key officials running the Council at a critical time, and a rumoured significant financial payoff and murky departure circumstances of particular staff, Scotland’s Finance Secretary John Swinney heaped more pressure on SBC by revealing to Holyrood the true extent of Scottish Borders Council’s debt situation, now standing at a staggering TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY TWO MILLION POUNDS,

Figures revealed by Mr Swinney in a written answer to Tory MSP, Margaret Scanlon revealed the debt situation at Scottish Borders Council had nearly DOUBLED in the past five years of Conservative-LibDem control, from a figure of £166,489 million in 2007 to a whopping £262,551m as of last year.

Mr Swinney also revealed Scottish Borders Council are forking out over TWELVE MILLION POUNDS A YEAR for interest on debts such as assets acquired under Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) or similar arrangements, a figure which has leapt from £9,090 million in 2007 to £12,273 million as of 2011.

Local campaigners in the Scottish Borders have criticised the scale of the problems at Scottish Borders Council and the apparent lack of any leadership or desire by the former Tory-Libdem coalition to stop the ever rising mountain of debt at Scottish Borders Council, which now equates to a sum of £2,403 & rising for every person living in the Scottish Borders as of this date.

Scottish Borders Council hit the headlines with revelations of huge salaries, expenses & more, here : Reasons your Scottish Borders Council tax is so high : 15 Councillors soak up £1/2 million, Officials & Chief Exec on £100K plus & golden pensions & MONEY TO BURN : Millions lost in Icelandic banks yet 34 Scottish Borders Councillors soak up another million in salaries & expenses claims

More on the Icelandic Bank-SBC scandal can be read here : “Akin to Money Laundering” : Tory-LibDem Scottish Borders Council ‘played Russian Roulette’ with taxpayers £172 million in bankrupt Icelandic Banks

Scottish Law Reporter also reported on the calls for a full investigation of Scottish Borders Council during November 2010 where it was revealed by the former Scotsman journalist Mr Chisholm who carried out his own investigation of SBC’s Icelandic finance deals, that Audit Scotland had been asked to investigate claims Scottish Borders Council acted negligently & recklessly in investing a staggering £10 million pounds of taxpayers money in the now collapsed Icelandic banks. The Council, which is now cutting posts & public services across the Borders is expected to lose more than £3 million pounds on its investment and that the final payment (if indeed any payments are made) of its expected return is not due until October, 2018.