The co-owner of the Scottish bus company interested in operating Malta’s public transport has “nothing to hide”, despite his VAT fraud conviction.

Sandy Easdale, who is also chairman of Glasgow Rangers’ football board, was judged in 1997 to have pocketed £1.5 million (€2.4 million) in a fraud involving computer parts.

Scotland’s Daily Record reported that he served 18 months of his 27-month sentence.

Mr Easdale and his brother James are the co-owners of McGill’s Bus Services, which is seriously looking at the opportunity of operating Malta’s public transport system.

The firm held a meeting with around 300 Maltese bus drivers and owners yesterday morning to gauge their interest in forming an association that would become a shareholder in McGill’s.

Managing director Ralph Roberts, who confirmed the firm’s interest to The Sunday Times of Malta, said: “Mr Easdale has nothing to hide and prefers transparency.”

Although the UK Rehabilitation of Offenders Act dictates that Mr Easdale’s conviction is spent and need not be referred to, “he does not shy away from the fact that he was convicted of a white collar offence a long time ago,” Mr Roberts said.

“The regulator for our industry, the local authority and the government in Scotland are well aware of this and Mr Easdale is deemed a fit and proper person to be a director in this business,” he added.

The Maltese bus network is temporarily being run by Malta Public Transport Services after Arriva agreed to terminate its 10-year contract following two-and-a-half years of service problems and financial losses.

A call for expressions of interest in operating the service was published this week. The closing date for submissions is April 4.

“Maltese residents would find that McGill’s is a company that knows how to be fiscally astute and knows how to return value for money to customers,” Mr Roberts said.

The Easdales took over McGill’s in 2001. Its turnover almost doubled in 2012 from £15 million (€18.2 million) to £27.7 million (€33.7 million), following the takeover of rival Arriva Scotland West in March of that year.

In a story published this month, the Scottish Daily Express reported the Easdale brothers were planning to sell McGill’s and invest heavily in Glasgow Rangers.

Mr Easdale has voting rights over approximately 26.6 per cent of shares in the football club and his brother James sits on its public limited company board.

According to the Express, the brothers have knocked back approaches for McGill’s amid rumours that one £80 million (€97.3 million) offer was not enough and they were holding out for £100 million (€121.7 million).

Mr Roberts denied this.

“We do not know how these rumours originated. McGill’s has not been sold and is not going through any sales process.

“An offer was made for McGill’s in the past but it fell far below a level that was of interest to us,” he said.

“Quite the opposite of selling the business, we are growing it,” the managing director continued.

“The size and scope of the bus market in Malta is a good fit with McGill’s because it falls directly into our areas of expertise. In short, we excel in turning problem companies around.”

The Scottish company currently operates about 350 buses across more than 50 routes, mostly in Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire.

Mr Roberts explained that McGill’s would be the majority shareholder in a newly established subsidiary company that would bid to operate Malta’s public transport.

Maltese shareholders – including, potentially, a local association of bus drivers and owners – would be members of the consortium.

The possibility of this association contracting itself to McGill’s to deliver specific parts of the network with Euro5 contract-compliant buses was also discussed at yesterday’s meeting.

“I am very keen to sub contract around 25 per cent of the network, possibly more, to local people who wish to take part as more than an employee,” said Mr Roberts, who led yesterday’s meeting.

“There is a lot of local knowledge that was lost in the change to Arriva and this could be harnessed to provide a much more cost-effective solution.”

He added that the attendees were chosen at “fairly short notice”.

“It was more of a meeting of minds to gauge the interest. The interest was very positive but there is a lot of detail to be discussed yet,” he said.

Mr Roberts, who worked for Arriva in the UK for 10 years, would be chairman and chief executive of the Maltese firm.

Mr Easdale would not be a director of this company and would have no involvement in its running.

He would be a director in the parent company that holds the shares, Mr Roberts said.

Transport Malta had not responded to questions on McGill’s by the time of going to print.