Hair Raising.
Today readers we are truely schocked,and that is an understatement. Late last night we received a detailed document outlining corruption,fraud and downright deceit. We had to read this document several times just to digest it’s severity.
Councillor Elizbeth McGinnis who many in this community had suspected for a long time had been underhand in the way she conducted herself is the subject of this detailed dossier. This detailed document outlines in graphic details some of the practices which she has been up to.
This document is too long and detailed to be printed here and it has been forwarded to the appropriate people,but we will give you a little taste of what has been going on.
We have in our possession what is described as an amateur standard letter from the manager [Ms. McGinnis] to referring agencies as proof of the manager misleading referring agencies by stating named staff were all appropriately qualified staff Karen Newmarch was employed as a Mental Health worker to lead the neighbourhood group and has no Mental Health qualifications. Gerry Imrie who supported the group and ran his own group was the only qualified member of staff directly supporting the groups and was made redundant by the manager for questioning the running of the project.
Janet Cook-Mills had no qualifications/training and was previously a bus driver for PEP. Staff later replacing redundant staff were also unqualified.
The manager defrauding the Department of Works and Pensions by paying people on benifits to help with driving the projects fleet of buses for ten pounds a shift. Or staff on benifits at the project are paid a great deal more hours than they are legally entitled to,so much so they were recognised and refered to as members of staff by members of staff and service users.
The manager defrauding the Inland Revenue by paying staff cash payments,not declaring them and cash payments for work done at the project-including the managers own son-was not declared to the Inland Revenue[We are talking about a leading Edinburgh Councillor here]
Service users files and information from them went missing when the only qualified member of staff running the Neighbourhood group was made redundant in July of last year,the manager blamed this occurrence on this individual. But staff witnessed the files and some of the information was there after this individuals departure. There is no doubt this was the manager trying to cover up her victimisation of staff as the files were of a higher standard of work than  produced by other staff directly supporting the group. Records in black and white show how unnecessary the redunancy was and the abuse of over NINE THOUSAND POUNDS OF TAXPAYERS MONEY AS A REDUNDANCY PAYMENT.
What we have here is a corrupt official manipulating,abusing and using the system at the expence of the most vunerable in society,at one turn able to put a tear in her eye and play the victim and on the other treat nearly everyone around her with contempt even to the stage of bragging she is squeaky clean to the community.
Elizabeth McGinnis the manager of the Pilton Elderly project[PEP] having manipulated and railroaded a merger with the Muirhouse Six Cirle Project[MSCP] arrogantly listens to no one when it is obvious to most of those around her she has little knowledge or experience to manage the services she has taken over to the detriment of the Service Users,their familes/carers,staff,customers and the community.
The manager organised a PEP development day in Dublin[Nov-05] and booked the project into the Dublin Dorchester for 2 days and had dinner at Brown’s of St Stephen’s Green at £75 pounds a head. When the manager was questioned about the use of public funds the manager boasted about being one of the funder’s ‘bosses’ then added what they do not know about,will not hurt them. [This despite a good standard of corporate hospitality and training services provided locally by years of successful community funding at greatly reduced costs] Unfortunately it did not stop there PEP’s administrator could not differentiate between 6am and 6pm,also the manager did not supervise work she delegated other’s to do,so when PEP turned up at Dublin Airport for the flight home at 6pm the manager was informed their flights had left at 6am that morning. It was the last straw for many of the staff who did not want to travel to Dublin in the first place,others terrified of flying,some where in tears,the manager gathered the project together,informed them that the project had purchased the only other flights available and that was to Glasgow! She would get a PEP driver and bus to pick them up from the airport and BEGGED THE GROUP NOT TO LET THIS GET INTO THE COMMUNITY.
There is much much more to this detailed document and it is a blatent mis-use of both her position as PEPÂ manger and local councillor.
We demand as of this moment that her total dis-regard for the community she is supposed to serve makes her position impossible and she must resign as this document will get published and possible criminal charges could come from it.
Elizabeth McGinnis has lost the trust of this community and she has lied to them,there is no-where now for her to go except resign and save the party flag she hides behind further embarrassment.Â
There is of course the question of what part Councillor Fitzpatrick played in this corrupt deceit,he too has much to answer for,nowght to do with me is not on. 1. Did he know what was going on. 2. It seems clear that Mr. Fitzpatrick knowes more that he cares to let on.3.Since he has tied his flag firmly to Ms McGinnis surely he must do the right thing and go too. 4. Once this becomes wide spread in the community and further afield Mr. Fitzpatrick’s position in all this will be imposible. He knew that the consultancy business that she set up was wrong but said and done nothing. He knew that her conflicts of interest were huge but again said and done nothing. He again asks for the trust of the voters,he must be joking.
We are horrified with what this document contains with it’s wide scale corruption and abuse,it is frightening she was allowed to get away with it for so long. Serious questions must also be asked of the management of the Pilton Partnership from which PEP has received large sums of public money. They do not escape this tangled web of deceit.
It is now very clear that what many people have suspected for a long time is true,Ms McGinnis is finished she has no credibility left and must go and go now. This sorry state of affairs has some way to go yet,but it is sure that we must now have seen the last of former councillor McGinnis.
April 27th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
This post does’nt surprise me one bit. I have been trying to tell the community for years about McGinnis’s “finger in every pie ” but i was never listen to and classed as a “troublemaker” by herself and her hand picked so called activists. Why has this woman got so much power within Royston/Wardieburn community ?