Former Glasgow councillor avoids jail

A former councillor convicted of taking more than £8,000 from a local charity she worked for has avoided jail.

Yvonne Kucuk was instead ordered to carry out 220 hours of unpaid work.

The 52 year-old was the company secretary for the People's Development Trust in Dalmarnock, Glasgow.

The organisation ran the £3.5m Commonweath Games legacy hub in the area launched amid a fanfare by football legend Kenny Dalglish in 2015.

But, later financial concerns lead to auditors looking over its books.

Kucuk – ex-Labour councillor for the city's Calton – and the trust's project manager 55 year-old Wiliam Faulds were eventually held by police.

Faulds was also hit with the same sentence today/yesterday after he was also convicted of embezzlement.

Both Kucuk and Faulds were further handed a restriction of liberty order meaning they must stay at home between 7pm and 7am.

The hub facility housed a range or services – such as IT training and a nursery – creating dozens of jobs.

Kucuk played a key role in the project.

However, issues later emerged leading to a financial probe.

A trial heard payments had been made to someone called “Johnny the Turk” for apparent literacy services.

This individual has never been tracked down.

Kucuk had also once asked a colleague to return a bag with £2,000 cash inside while she was suspended.

A number of cheque stubs made out to "cash" were discovered - but there were no corresponding receipts or paperwork.

The business had also been described as “chaotic” at one stage as it moved from the city's Bridgeton to the hub at Dalmarnock.

Kucuk was initially put on gardening leave after the audit.

The former councillor and colleague Faulds denied embezzling £8,120 between January 2015 and 2016.

She told the trial: “We paid a number of people in cash. It was to keep the money locally in the community. It is normal practice.”

The court heard Kucuk once asked her personal assistant Maureen Burke to hand a bag into the hub.

It later emerged that inside the bag was £2,000.

Mrs Burke said: “I did feel a bit uneasy about it, but Yvonne was going on holiday the next day and I felt a obligated to take it.”

Kucuk claimed she had taken the bag containing the remainder of gala day money – but had forgotten what was inside.

She later told the trial of being shocked at the allegations.

Kucuk: “I thought this was a nightmare...my life has been ruined and I’m numb.”

It also emerged she got Faulds to co-sign blank cheques, which he denied.

She told the court: “I would ask William at the office and complete the rest at the bank.”

Her lawyer Brian Cooney today/yesterday said Kucuk had plans to move to Turkey.

He added: "She maintains her position (of denial) from the trial."

Sheriff Mary McCrory told the pair: “It is unthinkable for someone with financial responsibility for the trust to act this way.

“There is a serious breach of trust at the heart of this embezzlement.