A COMPANY director and a council employee have gone on trial on bribery allegations over the awarding of local authority work worth £2 million.

Alistair McGowan, 67, and Mark Rankine, 53, denied allegations of criminal conduct on the first day of their trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Prosecutors claim that Mr McGowan, of Pencaitland, and Mr Rankine, of Galashiels in the Scottish Borders, breached the Bribery Act 2010.

The claims emerged during a hearing on Tuesday in which 15 jurors were read the contents a of a legal document detailing the allegations made against the pair by prosecutors.

The Crown claims that the alleged wrongdoing took place between August 30, 2011, and January 11, 2018, at locations including Midlothian Council’s Midlothian House in Dalkeith.

It is claimed that Mr McGowan, who is described as being a director of a firm called MM Repair Services Ltd, gave a “financial advantage” of £131,652.90 to Mr Rankine, a Midlothian Council employee.

'Reward'

The Crown alleges that this “advantage” was to “reward” Mr Rankine for MM Repair Services Ltd being awarded work to the value of £2,071,250.28 from Midlothian Council.

It is claimed that the payment was made from a bank account “in the name of MM Repair Services Ltd” to a bank account belonging to another company called MJR Construction and Country Services Ltd. The Crown says that Mr Rankine was a director in this firm.

The second charge alleges that Mr Rankine did accept a “financial advantage” worth £131,652.90 from Mr McGowan.

It is alleged that this was by “way of payment” into the MJR Construction and Country Services Ltd’s bank account and that Mr Rankine was a “director” of this firm.

Prosecutors claim that Mr Rankine accepted the payment in “anticipation of” and “in consequence” of an “improper performance” of a function.

It is alleged that Mr Rankine by his “own hand” and by the “hands” of Midlothian Council employees “directed” by him, added MM Repair Services Ltd to a “financial database of approved suppliers of services”.

These actions allegedly caused Midlothian Council to award MM Repair Services Ltd work to the “value of £2,071,250.28”.

Both men entered not guilty pleas at the start of the trial. Mr McGowan is represented by Shelagh McGall KC and Mr Rankine is represented by John Scullion KC.

The case is being prosecuted by advocate depute Mark Mohammed.

'Unusual meeting'

At the trial today, a senior councillor told how he asked his local authority’s chief executive to launch an urgent investigation into the activities of employees after an “unusual meeting”.

Derek Milligan, 63, told a jury on Tuesday how he met with Midlothian Council Roads Department workers in September 2017.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard from Councillor Milligan that he met with the staff after they made him aware of “concerns” about what was happening in the local authority.

Mr Milligan, who was then leader of Midlothian Council, described the meeting as “unusual” as he was expecting only about “half a dozen” people to attend.

But he said: “Around 40 to 50 people turned up. I expected around half a dozen.

“The whole department was there, it was very unusual.”

'Had concerns'

Councillor Milligan told the court that at the meeting, he was given a document by an attendee.

The court heard how the document said a man with the same name as the Midlothian Council employee was sponsoring a horse race at Kelso.

The jury were shown the document given to Councillor Milligan. It stated: “Mark Rankine of MM Repair Services Ltd has kindly sponsored the penultimate race off at 4.30pm.”

Councillor Milligan said that he knew a man of the same name.

He added: “I knew Mark Rankine. He was our roads operation manager. I had known Mr Rankine for some time.”

Councillor Milligan told prosecutor Mark Mohammed that Midlothian Council had a subcontractor which was also called MM Repair Services Ltd.

He said that he contacted Midlothian Council’s chief executive following the meeting.

Speaking about his conversation, Councillor Milligan said: “I discussed with the information that had been made known to me and I wanted to discuss the nature of the meeting and to investigate it as a matter of urgency.”

Councillor Milligan told the court that several senior employees of the council would be “spoken to” as part of the investigation.

He added: “Mark Rankine was perhaps the main person I had concerns about at the time.”

The trial, before judge Lord Lake, continues on Wednesday.