THE Scottish Police Authority has been criticised for spending over £60,000 fighting an unsuccessful tribunal case against a whistleblower.

Amy McDonald was last week awarded £7,440 over her treatment at the SPA, but the authority shelled out over eight times this sum in external legal fees.

As revealed by the Sunday Herald earlier this year, McDonald was the SPA’s director of financial accountability when she used whistleblowing procedures to raise concerns about the SPA’s financial decisions.

The chartered accountant believed her intervention led to her being sidelined, which resulted in her pursuing a tribunal claim.

The senior SPA figure told the tribunal that a quango executive was given an exit payment of more than £160,000 despite being arrested for domestic abuse.

McDonald also said she was badly treated after uncovering huge pay-offs to a senior figures at the organisation.

She alleged that an individual who had quit after lining up another job, then withdrew their resignation after being informed that a redundancy deal was possible.

She also raised concerns over the £67,000 paid to then then Deputy Chief Constable Rose Fitzpatrick in relocation expenses.

The tribunal last week ruled that McDonald had been treated unlawfully and awarded her compensation. However, the SPA said that the judgement had found it its favour in all but one claims raised against it.

The ruling stated: “The tribunal considered that there was a clear suggestion that by drawing attention to the payments the claimant had acted acted improperly and unprofessionally and had misused her position.

“The tribunal considered it was impossible to separate this from the protected disclosure that was set out in (Ms McDonald’s) grievance appeal.”

The SPA, which has been criticised for its oversight of the £1bn policing budget, is now under fire over its decision to contest the case. The total spent by the SPA on external legal fees was £60,857 as of last month.

Scottish Tory MSP Liam Kerr said: “This is another regrettable development in an already unacceptable saga. People will be disturbed by the idea that policing management are spending tens of thousands of pounds to crack down on whistleblowing. Instead, an organisation that’s meant to be transparent and accountable should be encouraging staff to speak up when they see something wrong.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: “There are a lot of areas of Scottish policing crying out for cash. Throwing £60k into a case fighting a whistleblower who raised legitimate concerns about the misuse of public money doesn’t seem to me to be the best use of SPA funds.

“The SPA has a responsibility to be both transparent and sensible with the large public budget it controls. I hope the refreshed board will do just that.”

A spokesman for the SPA said: "The SPA responded to the claims brought against it, including engaging appropriate external legal support. This process has been time-consuming and expensive for all concerned, however it was considered important that the SPA defend the claims. The SPA's focus remains firmly on improvement, including any further learning that is to be taken from this case."