Edinburgh cash scandal

A former assistant finance director at Edinburgh University has been barred from professional practice after admitting three charges of misconduct at a disciplinary tribunal.

Kendrick Macpherson was charged with authorising the university to pay Pounds 20,000 indirectly to two companies controlled by his business associates, while he was handling a Pounds 2.1 million building contract for student flats.

The university, which recovered the money through its insurers, said there was no record of the payment. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland tribunal said there was no evidence that either company was aware the university knew nothing about the payment.

Mr Macpherson also admitted a charge of failing to record the receipt of a Pounds 370,000 cheque from Lothian Health Board and putting the money in a bank deposit account, for which he was the sole signatory.

The account was discovered by Edinburgh's new director of finance, George Sutherland, when he was investigating all the university's bank accounts and signatories.