Companies in which Scottish Enterprise board directors have a stake received more than £3.4 million in financial support from the economic development agency in its most recent financial year.
The vast bulk of the money has gone to businesses where the quango’s chairman Crawford Gillies is a shareholder.
That came as its annual accounts showed a near 2.5 per cent pay increase for chief executive Lena Wilson from £203,000 to £208,000.
Ms Wilson is one of the country’s best paid public sector employees and also picks up an additional £68,000 from a part-time non-executive director role with FTSE100 testing firm Intertek.
The Scottish Enterprise accounts show she also received pension contributions worth £41,000 in the 12 months to March 31. The value of her pension pot was put at more than £1.8m.
A spokeswoman said: “In line with the public sector pay guidance set by the Scottish Government we implemented a modest progression for all staff, providing the salary was below the maximum of the pay band.
"For the fifth consecutive year no performance related bonuses were paid.”
The annual report also lists the value of transactions with businesses where board members of the quango have declared an interest.
A spokeswoman for the agency said: "Effective private and public sector partnership is at the heart of how we approach economic development in Scotland.
"This approach requires us to have robust and transparent systems in place to manage any potential conflicts of interest.”
Companies where Mr Gillies is a shareholder received in excess of £3.34m of financial support in the 12 months.
Specialist lighting company Design LED Products was the biggest beneficiary getting a £613,852 loan, £506,708 equity investment and grant funding of £49,480.
Artificial limb maker Touch Bionics, where Mr Gillies is a former chairman, got £708,794 equity investment and £14,690 of grant funding in the period.
Micro-optic specialist Powerphotonic was another company which benefited from a large sum in the year receiving more than £495,000 of equity investment and grant funding.
The latest sum to be made public means companies in which Mr Gillies owns shares have been given more than £10m of support since he became chairman of Scottish Enterprise in 2009.
Mr Gillies, a former management consultant who is also a non-executive director at Barclays, SSE and Standard Life, has already stated his intention to step down as chairman.
The search for his successor is understood to be ongoing.
The accounts also show biomaterials company Giltech, which counts Scottish Enterprise board member Gillian Watson as a shareholder, received £3996 of grant funding.
Subsea and marine firm Imes got £4,875 of grant funding in the year. Scottish Enterprise board member Melfort Campbell is a director there.
Russell Griggs saw Edinburgh-based high speed wireless access company Pure Lifi, where he is non-executive chairman, get more than £400,000 of backing.
The accounts confirm Scottish Development International (SDI) chief Anne MacColl left the agency in April. She is now working at Stirling University.
Ms MacColl was paid a salary of £114,000, up from £112,000, by Scottish Enterprise in the most recent financial year.
Along with Ms MacColl and Ms Wilson five other members of Scottish Enterprise’s executive leadership team were also paid more than £100,000.
The highest paid of those at £130,000 was Paul Lewis, formerly managing director of operations for sectors for high growth ventures and investment. Mr Lewis is now managing director of SDI and Scottish Enterprises international operations.
None of the senior management team were paid a bonus.
The median remuneration of Scottish Enterprise staff was put at £38,567. Pay rises in the organisation were said to be between one per cent and 2.5 per cent.
The annual report states Scottish Enterprise spent more than £87m on growth companies and £27m on innovation.
Its account managed companies were said to have increased turnover by a combined £1.3bn in the year.
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