Iain Carmichael, the former finance director at Scottish Enterprise who played a key role in the mismanagement of its taxpayer-funded half-a- billion-pound-plus budget in 2005/06, had an extra £380,600 pumped into his pension fund, it emerged yesterday.
The annual accounts of the economic and business development quango, which were made public yesterday, reveal that Carmichael retired in March with a golden goodbye worth £539,105 - nearly three times the £200,000 that had been previously estimated.
He received £106,765 in pay in lieu of notice, £5544 for accrued holiday pay, £46,196 for loss of office and £380,600, which was transferred into the Scottish Enterprise pension fund to bump up his retirement pay.
The revelation will doubtless anger and outrage critics of Scottish Enterprise, which was accused by MSPs of "wholly dissatisfactory" financial controls in the wake of overspending on the budget by £33m during the 2005/06 financial year.
At the time, Carmichael, Scottish Enterprise chairman Sir John Ward and chief executive Jack Perry were hauled in front of Holyrood's enterprise and culture committee and questioned. The trio admitted mistakes were made in the allocation of public funds.
In the wake of that financial crisis, Carmichael was removed from his finance director's position and was taken off the board of directors, and moved sideways into a new position.
Nonetheless, Carmichael's pension pot has now swelled to £777,600 - taking the current cash equivalent transfer value of his pension of £397,000 which, according to Scottish Enterprise, in "very basic terms", could be added to the £380,600 paid into his fund in March when Carmichael left the agency.
A spokesman for Scottish Enterprise yesterday confirmed that Carmichael had taken early retirement at age 54 but, as part of his leaving agreement, he was given a full pension "as if he were retiring at 60," the spokesman said.
A statement from Scottish Enterprise said: "This payment is based on actuarial calculations on what may have to be paid to the policyholder for the period of his retirement."
One insider at the agency added: "You have to remember Iain Carmichael is not going to be getting his £100,000 a year salary anymore."
In 2006, Carmichael in fact was awarded £106,000 in basic salary, but then a further £10,000 was added in benefits and bonuses, according to the agency's annual report and accounts.
Interestingly, the annual report notes that the "key objective" of its financial management in its 2006/07 year was to "ensure that the financial outturn for the year was within the resource budget allocated by Scottish ministers".
It added: "SE successfully achieved its financial objective for the year. The final net cash outturn was £912,000 (0.2%) below the related resource budget allocation."
The report also noted that its budget for the current financial year amounts to £620m, up from £550m the previous year.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Enterprise annual accounts also reveal that its top two executives - chief executive Jack Perry and Lena Wilson, the agency's chief operating officer and Perry's second-in- command - pocketed pay rises of 15.3% and 26.9% respectively, well in excess of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's sought-after 2% pay hikes for the public sector.
Collectively, the taxpayer shelled out an extra £67,000 to their pay packages last year.
Perry's salary came in at £219,000 - a figure which includes a £23,000 performance bonus, and a £9000 allowance for his car and "other benefits" - up from the previous year's £190,000 total.
Wilson reaped £179,000 - which includes her £17,000 performance bonus and a £4000 car allowance - compared with £141,000 the year before.
Scottish Enterprise, which yesterday unusually held its annual meeting in Dumfries, noted that "this was a very successful year" and that "actual performance against every objective was either within or in excess of the forecast range".
The agency also said that during the year it had "implemented a voluntary severance programme" which had been aimed at staff in senior management positions and had "resulted in 39 staff leaving". Among them was Iain Carmichael and agency veteran Charlie Woods.
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