BY ALEXANDER MELEAGROU-HITCHENS

I have previously blogged about Scotland's leading Islamist (and prospective MP for Glasgow Central), Osama Saeed, having to return more than half of the £200,000 he was given by his mate Alex Salmond to set up an event called Islam Fest.  The event never happened, and questions were still being asked about where the remaining funds went.

Saeed's Scottish Islamic Foundation (SIF) repaid nearly £130,000, and today the BBC tells us what happened to the remaining £70,000 of taxpayer money:

Organisers have repaid almost £130,000 and said the remaining £70,000 has been spent on setting up the event and securing partners.

Brill.  So that's £70,000 of OUR money that Osama has unceremoniously flushed down the toilet. Thank you Osama. Next time try to waste your own money on these little Islamist vanity projects.

What makes this even more amusing for us Saeed watchers, is that in May he had the audacity to attack MP's for the expenses fiasco, writing in his blog that:

Surely any spin doctor would have told them that it's better to release news on your own terms rather than have someone else expose it.

But clearly they and many other MPs who we've still to learn about, haven't learned the lesson. What the public are looking for is honesty and transparency.

Today's lot, and tomorrow's, have sat around hoping that the Daily Telegraph wouldn't notice them. 

It is not good enough and the public deserve better.

I also wonder how the rest of the media have let so many MPs stay silent on the matter even till now. So many of them have been hiding in the corner hoping this will all blow over. I would have thought that some good reporters somewhere would be trying to steal a march on the Telegraph asking every MP who hasn't been covered yet, whether all their affairs are in order, or whether they'd like to hold their hands up to their constituents and declare anything.

Will Mr. Saeed then provide us with the exact details of where our £70,000 went?  If he sticks to his principles he will show just the type of ‘honesty and transparency' he expects from others.  I urge anyone who wishes to take this further to email Mr. Saeed and the SIF and ask for every detail they have on exactly what they have done with our money.

[Hat Tip: Robin Simcox]