Today at Public Audit Committee, the chair of the Scottish National Investment Bank conceded that the Bank should steer clear of future investments in government schemes. Willie Watt admitted that the investment in Circularity Scotland, which lost £8 million of taxpayer money, became "politicized" and that the Bank did not anticipate a difference of views on the Internal Market Act.
Graham Simpson MSP asked representatives from SNIB if they had learned any lessons from their investment in the doomed deposit return scheme. SNIB CEO Al Denholm said that while an investment in deposit return schemes generally was "of sound basis", the implementation of that investment "between different parts of the UK Government ecosystem" was not something that the bank had anticipated correctly.
Willie Watt admitted that the bank's judgement on the risk involved in that investment was "wrong" and agreed with Graham Simpson's suggestion that future investments should "steer clear" of government schemes.
Graham Simpson MSP said: "The Scottish National Investment Bank got its fingers burned when it invested in the doomed deposit return scheme and lost £8m of our money. I put it to them at the Public Audit Committee that one lesson is that they should steer clear of government schemes."
