EXC A senior Scottish Govt minister was told last year of allegations Prestwick Airport is “financially subsidising” inbound US military aircraft. US Congress is investigating ties b/w the US military, the state-owned airport & Trump Turnberry. Thread 👇 scotsman.com/news/scottish-…
When I published this investigation Wed eve into allegations about detailed financial arrangements between Prestwick and the US military, the @scotgov & its exec agency @transcotland declined to answer whether they knew about them. scotsman.com/news/prestwick…
But I now know allegations of misuse of public money by Prestwick management to subsidise US military traffic were sent in 2018 to @HumzaYousaf, Scotland’s justice minister. At the time, he served as transport minister.
The correspondence, which I've seen, specifically alleged that Prestwick management were using “public loans from Scottish taxpayers to financially subsidise US military flights." 
It further spelled out allegations that the airport was offering various fees, that would routinely be charged, for free to customers. Again, I stress these are allegations, the same as I published on Wed. The airport has repeatedly refused to answer my Qs about them.
Seven weeks after the allegations were sent, the Scottish Government executive agency, @transcotland, responded privately. It said Prestwick & Prestwick alone decided “potential deals” with “potential customers.”
A letter written by @transcotland, which I've also seen, added: “Any deals and incentives that Prestwick offer is a matter for the airport.” The airport, remember, is a publicly owned asset, dependent on £38.4m in loans in the form of taxpayers' money.
To the best of my knowledge, since @scotgov was made aware of these allegations, there has been no kind of internal inquiry or attempt to scrutinise the claims that the airport is subsidising US Armed Forces flights.
This is what @transcotland told me tonight. I did not ask about its communications with @realDonaldTrump's firms, but as you see, its statement makes explicitly clear "ministers and officials" have had no contact with the Trump Org / Turnberry re Prestwick.
But at a time when the House Oversight Committee in the US Congress is looking into the finances at Prestwick & its ties with Turnberry & USAF, the fact a senior @scotgov minister was told of these allegations more than a year ago is the source of controversy.
@patrickharvie told me: “An asset owned by the Scottish people is subsidising Donald Trump’s military expansion and the Scottish Government felt that was legitimate business by its airport?”
.@jamiegreeneuk said: “This reeks of gross hypocrisy from Humza Yousaf who is first to criticise Donald Trump when it suits him in public, whilst apparently turning a blind eye to deals with the US administration in private.”
.@colinsmythmsp commented: “It’s time for the SNP government to come clean on the extent to which the deals with the US military have contributed to what appears to be a turnaround in the airport finances in the last year."
I've also obtained confidential unredacted minutes of Prestwick board meetings. They suggest airport management have made changes to the way it records revenue from fuel sales, referencing the “financial performance of fuel uplift rather than quantity."
Elsewhere, the minutes detail talks of the “increase in military activity and associated fuel uplift” at Prestwick, and includes suggestions of “extrapolating out President’s Trump’s visit.” I asked the airport about these minutes. It has not responded to my enquiries.
There's more to come on this story, and I'm looking into several other stories concerning Trump properties in Scotland, inc public money issues. If you have a tip or story, contact me in confidence. My DMs are open. Encrypted email martynmcl@protonmail.com. Thanks for reading.
