A Scottish minister resigned from his post after his children used his tablet and spent around €13,000 while the civil servant was on holiday.
Michael Matheson was regional health minister, but the scandal caused by his iPad bill caused him to resign from the post.
Everything was recorded when the minister went on a trip to Morocco with his family at the end of 2022 and did not notice that his children started using his work tablet to watch a football match.
This created additional costs for the data bill that the state pays for its functions, which is why a controversy arose about the misuse of public resources.
Michael initially assured that this data had been collected for reasons of his parliamentary work.
However, he later admitted that his children had used the tablet’s data to watch World Cup matches during a family holiday in Morocco in late 2022.
The former minister was accused of lying to the media, and all this put intense pressure on the nationalist government of Prime Minister Humza Yousaf.
The truth is that the case reached the Scottish Parliament, which had to decide on it because the bill reached 11,000 pounds ($13,880).
The minister resigned ahead of a report
Amid the scandal that arose, Matheson refunded the bill for the tablet taken over by the Scottish Parliament and apologized.
However, his actions continued to generate pressure and the minister decided to resign in order not to affect the government.
“It is best for me and the government that I resign now to ensure this does not become a distraction in advancing the government’s agenda,” he said in his letter.
In fact, Prime Minister Humza Yousaf had defended his official, saying he had never betrayed him and that he was a “man of integrity”.
However, he realized that Matheson could have handled the whole situation better and decided to accept his resignation.
Minister Matheson has held various positions in the Scottish Government for almost 13 years, including the Justice, Zero Emissions and Public Health portfolios; what he was known for in his country.
The story of his resignation spread on the networks and generated all kinds of comments supporting him and criticizing him for the scandal that his children had caused by using his work tablet.
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