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Glasgow City Council, along with some other local authorities in Scotland, offers the option to pay council tax in either 10 or 12 monthly instalments.(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\nEXCLUSIVE: Susan Aitken said four former officials should follow the example of ex chief executive Annemarie O’Donnell in giving up their packages.Glasgow City Council, along with some other local authorities in Scotland, offers the option to pay council tax in either 10 or 12 monthly instalments.(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Glasgow council leader Susan Aitken has demanded the former bosses who walked away with lavish golden goodbyes hand back the money<\/a>.<\/p>\n Aitken claimed she was \u201cpersonally lied to\u201d after being kept in the dark over the \u00a31m exit deals.<\/a><\/p>\n The Record revealed last year that former council chief executive Annemarie O\u2019Donnell and four colleagues left with huge early retirement packages<\/a>.<\/p>\n Official accounts show O\u2019Donnell received \u00a3357,845 for her pension, while ex legal director Elaine Galletly enjoyed a \u00a3223,065 pension boost and \u00a359,971 for \u201ccompensation for loss of office\u201d.<\/p>\n Former council solicitor Carole Forrest, ex HR head Robert Anderson and one-time principal adviser to the CEO Anne Connolly also received deals.<\/p>\n The \u00a31m total spend came during a time of cuts and angered Aitken and her colleagues who were kept out of the loop.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Peter Mandelson revelations on Epstein friendship are ‘very uncomfortable’, says Anas Sarwar<\/a>READ MORE: Peter Mandelson sacked as UK ambassador to US over Jeffrey Epstein scandal<\/a><\/p>\n In an interview with our Planet Holyrood podcast, the SNP council leader said: \u201cI am very angry about it.\u201d<\/p>\n She said: \u201cI wasn\u2019t told about it because the very small number of individuals involved knew that I wouldn\u2019t have approved it, that I wouldn\u2019t have signed it off.\u201d<\/p>\n Aitken said: \u201cIt was done covertly. The information was not shared with senior politicians. It absolutely should have been. It was kept from us. That information was withheld.<\/p>\n \u201cI was personally misled and personally lied to about it, or certainly about the situation around it.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Donnell has paid back her early retirement package and Aitken wants the four others to do the same:<\/p>\n \u201cWe have retrieved some of that money, I\u2019m very glad to say. We continue to believe that all of the individuals involved should pay [it] back. I think it would be the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey should certainly, at the very least, look to their consciences and consider following in the footsteps of the former chief executive, who I think did look to her conscience and decided to pay it back.<\/p>\n \u201cNone of them had less than comfortable pensions to begin with. They were all senior officers. They don\u2019t need this extra.\u201d<\/p>\n In a damning report, auditors said the absence of scrutiny from councillors and formal documents was \u201cdeeply concerning\u201d.<\/p>\n Andrew Burns, Deputy Chair of the Accounts Commission said: “The actions taken by a group of senior staff at Glasgow City Council fell short of the values and principles every public sector worker and councillor are expected to follow. There was a failure to address and document how potential conflicts of interest were considered.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is alarming to see reports which need to consider the lawfulness of actions within councils, and such circumstances do little to reassure taxpayers about how public money is being used.\u201d<\/p>\n Glasgow Labour councillor George Redmond, who helped expose the payments controversy, said: \u201cThis is the biggest scandal I have seen since I have been a councillor. The money spent could have been used for schools, poverty and fixing potholes.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Susan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1_JS380537172.jpg\")
Susan Aitken. Pic by Victoria Stewart, Reach Plc Staff<\/p>\n