Humza Yousaf has been accused of a conflict of interest (Image: Getty)
Humza Yousaf has sparked a "conflict of interest" row after the Scottish government gave ￡250,000 to a Gaza aid charity while he had family members trapped in the warzone.
Officials recommended a ￡100,000 to ￡200,000 donation to UNICEF, the United Nations agency providing humanitarian care to children in Gaza.
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But the First Minister overruled them, instead giving ￡250,000 to UNRWA, the biggest international aid agency operating in Gaza.
Yousaf told officials that since he was about to meet with UNRWA: “We should just announce an extra ￡250k to them”.
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The Scottish Government’s donation was announced in early November, the same day that Yousaf met a delegation of senior UNRWA officials in Edinburgh, the Telegraph reports.
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UNWRA delivers humanitarian aid into Gaza (Image: Getty)
His mother-in-law and father-in-law were given safe passage out of Gaza the following day. Yousaf has denied that the donation was connected to their release.
But there are accusations that the First Minister’s interference was a conflict of interest and questions have risen over whether he breached ministerial code.
A report has been made to the Met Police anti-terror hotline and a submission being sent to Audit Scotland, which independently oversees how public money is spent, according to the Telegraph.
Stephen Kerr, a Conservative MSP who sits on Scotland’s standards, procedures and public appointments committee, said: “The First Minister has some serious explaining to do, starting with why he overrode officials to take money away from the vital Unicef water programme and assign it to UNRWA.
“It looks as if the money was not budgeted and that the First Minister was prepared to bend the rules and not follow procedure.
“Humza Yousaf has a clear conflict of interest in the awarding of aid to Gaza. Clearly, the fact that so many members of his family are either living in Gaza or are involved with Palestinian organisations raises significant questions about what his motivation is for using taxpayers’ money in the area.”
The Scottish Ministerial Code states that ministers “must ensure that no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their public duties and their private interests, financial or otherwise”.
Mr Kerr went on to say that the First Minister “may very well have broken the code by failing to recuse himself when he has family connections to Gaza and Palestinian organisations here in Scotland”.
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He added: “If he cannot give a satisfactory answer to questions about the decision-making behind this payment by the Scottish Government, then Parliament must set up an independent investigation into this matter.”
In total, the Scottish Government has given ￡750,000 to UNRWA since October. The first donation, of ￡500,000, was announced in October following an “urgent” internal submission, official documents show.
Documents regarding the donations were obtained by Craig Houston, a Glasgow resident, following a Freedom of Information request, who discussed them on his YouTube channel “Craig Houston Talks To”.
A spokesman for the First Minister said there was a “rigorous process to ensure complete transparency and accountability” in the allocation of money from the International Development Fund.
He said that while the fund “primarily” supports projects in partner countries, funding has been made available to address “urgent humanitarian needs” in several other countries in recent years.
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The spokesman said: “UNRWA had no role in the situation regarding the First Minister’s extended family, and any suggestion of a conflict of interest in this matter would be completely untrue. The record shows the First Minister’s actions were consistent with his obligations towards openness and honesty in the Scottish Ministerial Code.
“The decision not to restrict funding to water supplies was based on advice from officials, following discussions with UNRWA, Unicef and the British Red Cross, who all stressed the importance of flexibility in providing humanitarian support according to changing needs on the ground.”
Express.co.uk has contacted UNRWA for comment.
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