THE LABOUR controlled council in Glasgow has been secretly bailing out a housing association to the tune of £25 million of Tax Payers' cash, according to documents seen by The Digger.

As mortgage companies and banks hit the wall and share prices plummet North Glasgow Housing Association Ltd (NGHA) is being kept afloat using £ 25 mil­lion of public money.

Information obtained using the Freedom Of Information Act has revealed that Glasgow 's Labour controlled council set aside the money from the period 2003 to 2008 for the association, which is based at 50 Reid Street in Spring-burn.

Without the £ 25 million of your money Glasgow 's second biggest housing association would be bankrupt.

Pay rise
Yet Robert Tamburrini their di­rector managed to get a pay rise last year to just under £100,000 and that doesn't include his pension. His management committee do not receive a penny in salary.

And Tamburrini is not shy to use the money to protect himself in his job as director.

He paid Glasgow top media law firm Levy and McRae £40,000 to defend himself in Glasgow Sheriff Court last year.

It is not clear if the director used tax payers money or his own in the case against one of his former tenants, an unemployed 40-year-old man.

A Tenant later quit his ten­ancy with NGHA after his door was smashed in by a thug at 1 am in November 2006. Partner in Levy and McRae, Millionaire Peter Watson, made sure former tenant, who is on housing benefit, was hit with the £40K bill.

"I don't have the money to pay it," former tenant told The Digger. Tamburrini was exonerated in the case and the formar tenant is being probed by CID for perjury after Sheriff Peebles called in the cops. Not content with his victory the director is also suing this magazine for alleged defamation even after we agreed to settle with him out of court last week.

Money men

Watson, and law firm Balfour and Manson, who are part of the global organisation the Parlex Group, instructed advocate Rod­erick Dunlop (pictured above right with Levy and McRae logo) to pursue the case against us in the Court Of Session in Edinburgh last year.

Dunlop can charge over a £1000 a day for his fees.

It is not clear if they are being paid using public cash from the housing association who house some of the poorest people in the UK .

The housing regulator has refused to comment on where the money for the legal action is coming from. And has also refused to question how NGHA is spending YOUR money.

The Reynolds Defence
The Digger magazine is using the Reynolds Defence of qualified privilege. The money used to hire our legal team comes from the cover price of the magazine - and NOT the tax payer.

Not one national newspaper in Scotland , including the Daily Record or The Sun, has dared to test the Reynolds Defence in Scotland . The defence has never been tested in the Court of Session but if successful wilj set a precedent for all investigative journalism in the country.

But Tamburrini and his legal team have refused to reveal where their money is coming from -and the housing regulator is also keeping it a closely guarded secret from the public.

Bill Aitken, the Glasgow Con­servative MSP re­cently asked Stewart Maxwell, the housing minister if the director was acting as an offi­cial of the association or in a pri­vate capacity.

And that if the chief executive was acting in a private capacity tax payers' money should not be funding the action. Maxwell re­fused to comment.

Mr Aitken told The Digger: "It would be interest­ing to see what happened, however, in the event of a defama­tion action failing after considerable court ex­penses and an order for expenses being made against Tamburrini. This could amount to many thousands of pounds and I find it difficult to en­visage circumstances in which despite the independence of the housing association the Scottish Housing Regulator did not get in­volved. "

Bob Doris, the Nationalist MSP also voiced his con­cern. He asked Janet Dickie the support manager for the housing regulator who was paying for the action.

She refused to comment on where the money was coming from and replied that it was up to the housing associa­tion to take legal ad­vice on how to act.

The Digger spoke to Paul McBride, one of Scotland 's top QC'son the question of law firms using public cash without proper authority or public accountability. He said if there was any suggestion of impropriety he would "...call in the police".

We are not saying that this is fraud but are asking who is paying Tamburrini to pursue The Digger?

Your cash If Tamburrini has used public money we're not saying he has-from the association's bank account it would have to have been passed democratically by the management committee who would have to have carried out a ballot, according to their constitution. But because they are not sub­ject to the law of the Freedom Of Information Act their activities are being kept secret from the public. Tamburrini's management committee includes Helen Hurcombe who held her councilors surgery in gangster Edward Lyons' Chyrnside Community Centre before it was shut down after the murder of his nephew Michael Lyons in Lambhill.

Another management committee member is Ronnie Rodden whose brother Des Stewart is the face of the underworld figures who run Ruchill Security a firm which has also been hired by NGHA in the past. Over 40 cops swooped down on Ruchill Security this month in a blitz on illegal immigrants. NGHA has been accused in the past of funding - as part of their building pro­gramme- M&M, a se­curity firm tied in with the McGovern crime family. Tamburrini has said he hasn't hired them since 2002. Steven McGovern was murdered half a mile away from NGHA's HQ in north Glasgow in October last year. The killers have not been caught.

Should Tamburrini and his management committee be al­lowed to control millions of pounds of tax payers' money under this cloak of secrecy?

Council leader Steven Purcell, the Labour leader of the council, also paid Levy and McRae to threaten this magazine with legal action after we accused him of not doing enough to shut down Chyrnside Community Initiative before Michael Lyons was murdered in 2006.

The Digger wants to know if public money is being used to protect officials from adverse comment in the media? NGHA, who were unavailable for comment, celebrated 30 years in the housing business last December with a £ 10,000 bash at the Kelvingrove Museum - paid for by the tax payer.

Neither, Peter Watson or Roder­ick Dunlop were available for comment when they were con­tacted at Levy and McRae's of­fices at the weekend.

Why are Tamburrini and his legal team refusing to reveal where the thousands of pounds of legal fees are coming from?

And why is Maxwell who over­sees the housing regulator refus­ing to inspect NGHA's books?

We contacted watchdog, the Office of the Scottish Charity Reg­ulator and they also refused to an­swer the question: can the director of a housing association raise an action in court and get the public to pay for it? A spokesman for the OSCR said though NGHA is a registered charity the Scottish Government banned them from monitoring housing associations.

As food and fuel bills rocket out of range of many residents who live in properties belonging to NGHA is it right that thousands of pounds of tax payers' money can go into the hands of over paid lawyers?

We are not saying this is hap­pening but charities like NHGA should be above suspicion.

Many of the 3000 units con­trolled by NHGA are in poor con­dition. Some children are suffering from asthma and live in houses which have poor ventila­tion. Other disabled tenants live in flats with poor access and have trouble reaching their homes be­cause of the stairs.

Money paid to lawyers could be used instead to help feed the poor and properly house them and look after the health of their children.

The public has a right to know - it's their money.