Dropped human trafficking probe into Dame Ann Gloag dubbed a 'national disgrace'

Gloag, co-founder of transport company Stagecoach, was charged in January last year alongside husband David McCleary and two other family members with human trafficking and immigration offences.

Leading businessman Sir Tom Hunter has described a dropped human trafficking probe into Dame Ann Gloag as a “national disgrace”.

Gloag, co-founder of transport company Stagecoach, was charged in January last year alongside husband David McCleary and two other family members with human trafficking and immigration offences.

She strongly denied the charges and last week the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said it would make no further proceedings against her or the three other defendants. Hunter, one of Scotland’s richest men, has worked with Gloag, 81, on projects to support young entrepreneurs in Scotland.

The 63-year-old Sports Division founder criticised the length of time it took to drop the charges and the “waste” of taxpayers’ money and police time spent on the probe.

Speaking to Lord Willie Haughey on the Go Radio Business Show, Hunter added: “Dame Ann Gloag has done more than anybody in Scotland in her charitable work and her business.

“This has been a waste of Scottish taxpayers’ money and a waste of police time. Why did anybody not say, ‘There needs to be a quick look at the evidence’, and then say. ‘Nothing to answer here’, and move on? The stress on that poor woman’s family. This is a national disgrace.”

It is understood Gloag’s accusers were people who came to Scotland as part of her charity work. The Gloag Foundation supports “projects that prevent or relieve poverty and encourage the advancement of education, health and religion in the UK and overseas”.

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