Payout for deposed tourism chief

Mr Lynch has accepted £25,000 in compensation

Scotland's tourism body has paid £25,000 in compensation to a man who was appointed as its new chief executive without spending one day in the job.

VisitScotland, formerly the Scottish Tourist Board, said Rod Lynch had accepted the payment for "loss of office" and legal expenses after the position was withdrawn days after his appointment was formally announced.

Tourist chiefs withdrew the £145,0000-a-year job offer after it emerged that Mr Lynch intended to continue as chief executive and chairman of Essex-based air cargo firm Global Supply Systems.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) criticised the pay-off and said the cash could have been better spent marketing Scotland's troubled tourism industry.

Wendy Alexander has been criticised over the episode

When Mr Lynch was appointed in April, VisitScotland had been on the hunt for a new chief executive since former head Tom Buncle stood down five months earlier in the wake of a highly critical report into the agency's activities.

He was soon engulfed in controversy, however, when it emerged that he was travelling to the United States for "leisure purposes" at a time when the industry was suffering from the effects of foot-and-mouth disease.

Further allegations about Mr Lynch's private life and reports of a row between the then First Minister Henry McLeish and Enterprise Minister Wendy Alexander over the timing of his appointment also added to the controversy.

VisitScotland then withdrew the job offer when it emerged that he would continue working for Global Supply Systems.

Mr Lynch said that VisitScotland knew about his involvement with the air cargo company all along and referred the matter to his legal advisers.

'Amicable situation'

The affair provoked a furious reaction from opposition parties who then accused the Scottish Executive of bungling the appointment and presiding over a "litany of incompetence" and an "embarrassing fiasco".

On Thursday Mr Lynch's involvement with the Scottish tourism finally came to an end when VisitScotland confirmed that a compensation payment would be made.

A spokesman for the tourism body said: "VisitScotland and Mr Lynch are pleased that an amicable situation has been reached.

Kenny MacAskill: "Time of crisis"

"Neither party intends to comment further on the matter."

SNP tourism spokesman Kenny MacAskill said the episode had been damaging for the industry.

He said: "Rod Lynch's payoff is not as bad as was feared. However, it is still money that would have been better spent marketing Scotland.

"We faced the shambles of being without a chief executive at a time of crisis in the tourism industry.

"The payoff might be less, but the cost to Scotland's largest industry was enormous and Wendy Alexander has not even had the good grace to apologise."