Edinburgh Sucks! | University gives Nolan’s “conflict of interest” an air of respectability

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University gives Nolan’s “conflict of interest” an air of respectability

By The Basa ⋅ April 6, 2006 ⋅

It seems that the investigations into disgraced ex-councillor Paul Nolan has not perturbed him at all, even though his walking vote, Mick ‘McNumpty’ McNulty ‘did a runner’ when going to be faced with an investigating officer.In the latest conflict, it now seems that Nolan’s son, John, has landed a job in the community IT centre (where Nolan is a Director and McNumpty sits on the board as Chairman) and his long experience as a barman in the Cuddy Brae will surely come in handy.

There are many questions in the community about the appointment and questions are being asked on the local bulletin board at http://www.realcraigmillar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=934 .

EdinburghSucks got on to the PR company representing Napier University as their logo is sitting on the front page of the dreadfully bad Â£500,000 front page giving the project the appearance of being above board. The agency (Beattie Communications) came back with the following quote:

A spokesperson for Napier University said: “Napier University works closely with the Craigmillar community on a number of projects in the area to provide education and training for local people. However, responsibility for the appointment of staff remains with local organisations and any queries should be addressed directly to them.”

This of course is PR speak for “We’re not touching this bloody nightmare with a bargepole” – and of course the word ‘bloody’ would be the nicer version of what they wanted to say.

No matter what Napier University say, the fact that they allow Haywired to use their Logo on the front page of the website is giving this centre, which is shrouded in controversy, secrecy and dodgy dealings an air of legitimacy which it certainly does not deserve. When the Communities Scotland and European investigations is completed it will be interesting to see the university run for cover. Before posting this article, EdinburghSucks were informed that the University were currently working on how they were going to deflect any ‘negative press’ when the conflict story hit.
For readers who don’t know the background of the centre, it is run by a board of three people who have zero experience in IT and they publicly acknowledge this. Mick ‘McPuppet’ McNulty, Paul ‘conflicts’ Nolan and Alister Steele, the Managing Director of Castle Rock Edinvar Housing Association. It was assumed that Steele was going to try and keep the organisation at least looking clean by being on the board. However, it seems that Nolan and his ‘walking vote’ have won over and the place is going further down as each day passes.

Nolan is also currently the subject of an investigation by the City Cooncil for, ahem…. Conflicts of Interest.