The Scottish well being secretary’s declare he was unaware his sons ran up an $21,000 roaming cost invoice on vacation by watching soccer has been ridiculed after it emerged he has been a VIP visitor at a number of matches of one of many groups.
Greater than £7,300 ($13,975) of the £12,000 roaming expenses Michael Matheson billed the taxpayer for have been incurred on January 2, the day of an Outdated Agency match between Rangers and Celtic.
Former Celtic supervisor Ange Postecoglou lifts the Viaplay Cup after beating Rangers on February 26, 2023.Credit score: Getty
Matheson claimed final week that he didn’t know the 2 teenage boys have been utilizing his parliamentary iPad as an web hotspot to stream matches whereas they have been in Morocco as he had no “curiosity” within the groups concerned.
Scottish parliamentary authorities handed Matheson a breakdown of the £10,935.74 roaming expenses invoice on February 7 exhibiting the invoice surged on the times of soccer fixtures.
Opposition MPs instantly made the hyperlink when it was lately made public.
However Matheson informed parliament he had used the iPad solely for constituency issues and it allowed him to make use of his taxpayer-funded bills to fund £3000 of the invoice.
Parliament funded the £7935.74 stability from its personal finances.
He solely agreed to pay again the cash from his personal pocket after The Telegraph disclosed the invoice a fortnight in the past. His annual wage is £118,511.
In an announcement to parliament, he claimed he had came upon his sons had used the machine to look at soccer on November 9 when he was knowledgeable by his spouse.