The Deaf Eyes
This email actually came in a couple of days ago, but we’ve been too dumbstruck to respond to it until now.
Because, like, wow.
Firstly, let’s take a moment to note the weird font change halfway through that central paragraph, as though someone else entirely butted in. And let’s also note that those 93 words took COPFS 27 days to come up with, which makes it all the more shocking that they haven’t even read the question.
The letter we sent them on 3 July couldn’t have been any more explicit: we WEREN’T asking them about fraud. We acknowledged fraud was hard to prove. We said, with the starkest clarity, that the issue was embezzlement.
We’re sure they tried really hard to remember that.
But the eventual response is an insult so crassly contemptuous (and therefore entirely in character for the Crown Office, which is answerable to no-one and can do whatever it likes in Scotland) that it’s hard to know what to do about it. Normally officialdom at least vaguely pretends that it cares about accountability to the people that pay its wages, but to be frank it’d have been less offensively dismissive if COPFS had just sent us a dog turd in a jiffy bag.
We’ll let you know where we go from here when we know ourselves.
Interesting that Veronica doesn’t share her surname in an official document.
Rev, I suggest that your reply keeps it simple – just ask the embezzlement question.
Then they can’t possibly get confused and divert onto the fraud question. Can they?
Sadly, you are banging your head against a brick wall Stu. There is no mechanism available to force the Crown Office to do anything and that is just how they want it. The appointment of the head of said organisation into the Scottish Cabinet reflects just that.
At least you have penned a new article. How long before ‘the regulars’ come on with the ancient history guff and the ‘Colonialism’ tripe that your sane and educated readers have had enough off?
At the risk of repeating myself NOTHING will happen politically in Scotland until the SNP are eradicated. The current wee Mickey Mouse Independence Parties have been formed solely for their office bearers benefit to make them feel important. Prior to the recent General Election in Scotland they really did not see the need to canvass support from the electorate. They preferred to try and make themselves look good in approaching the UN with some spurious claim. How is that going?
In Scotland today it is ALWAYS someone else’s fault. The true Scots (whoever that means) are blameless.
What a mess!
“Firstly, let’s take a moment to note the weird font change halfway through that central paragraph, as though someone else entirely butted in.”
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It’s obviously copied and pasted from another document and they forgot to change the font to match.
Stunning lack of understanding. Or more probably deliberate misunderstanding. And nothing to tell us “Veronica”s status within the “National Enquiry Point”.
Keep up the pressure, but hard to know what to do next, especially in Scotland. Sarah has made a fair suggestion.
How about asking David Davis MP to use HoC privilege to highlight in public the apparent inanity/duplicity being displayed by COPFS?
In The Twelve Tasks of Asterix the Roman bureaucrats who hinder the attempt to get form A38 are eventually foiled by the request for an imaginary form A39. Unable to deal with this request they fob off Asterix with form A38.
Maybe a SAR might disclose who Veronica’s editor is.
It looks to me as though that reply has some copy, cut and paste text in it. Maybe the input of more than one person or bot?
The contempt with which your correspondence is being treated does nothing to inspire any confidence in the impartiality or the conduct of the COPFS. But where there’s a will there’s a way Mr. Campbell and I have no doubt you have the will. Wishing you every success in your continuing efforts to bring the CPFS to account.
AI overview:
You can take action against a decision made by the Procurator Fiscal
If You Are the Victim (A Decision Not to Prosecute)
If the Procurator Fiscal decided to take no action or stop prosecuting your case, you have specific rights under the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014:
• Request an Explanation: You have the right to be told the exact reasons why the case is not going to court. You can request this through the COPFS Enquiry Point or your local office.
• Victims’ Right to Review (VRR): You can formally demand a review of the decision. A completely independent prosecutor who was not involved in your case will re-examine the police reports, witness statements, and evidence.
• How to Apply: You should ideally submit a review request online or via email within 10 working days of being told about the decision to ensure a prompt review.
• The Outcome: If the reviewer finds the original decision was wrong, they can overturn it and instruct the fiscal office to start or restart court proceedings.
Is there a mechanism available to the lieges to compel the COPFS and the Chief Constable to carry out their statutory duties?
If not, we seem to have let ourselves become incredibly vulnerable to people who view their professional role as doing whatever is politically expedient to the ScotGov ahead of the wider public interest.
This isn’t Democracy. We’re being run by a Political Junta propped up by the upper-echelons of the supposed ‘public servants’ who claim to be devoted to ‘public service’ yet overtly treat that same public with complete and utter contempt.
Keep pushing and chipping away. They don’t like a light being shone onto their nefarious activities.
As this rumbles on, folk are waking to the realization that there needs to be a separation between Holyrood and the judiciary in Scotland.