A controversial business relationship that was at the heart of Robert Gordon University’s “cronyism” row has now been terminated.
Official documents show that the Aberdeen-based institution’s vice-principal Gordon McConnell is no longer a co-director of a firm which owns the family estate of former RGU principal, Ferdinand von Prondzynski.
The Press and Journal revealed in May that an internal investigation had been launched into claims the two former Dublin City University colleagues failed to declare the link before, during or after Professor McConnell’s appointment.
The probe discovered they had breached RGU’s conflict of interest policy, but ruled it was a “genuine omission or oversight” and neither would face sanction.
However, the decision prompted another vice-principal, Professor Paul Hagan, to resign in protest, and Prof von Prondzynski quit the top job last month after RGU’s board heard there was “considerable concern among a broad spectrum of university employees” about the issue.
Prof McConnell, who started his new job as RGU’s vice-principal for commercial and regional innovation in January, became a director of Knockdrin Estates Ltd in 2006.
However, documents lodged with Ireland’s Companies Registration Office have highlighted that his directorship was ended on August 25.
Heather von Prondzynski, wife of the former principal, has now been appointed as a director, alongside her husband.
The company owns the £12million Knockdrin Castle, an 18th-century Gothic building on a 1,000-acre estate in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, which was the home of the von Prondzynski family, and put up for sale at the end of last year.
This week, the Scottish Funding Council and RGU commenced a joint “lessons learned review” to consider whether the governance codes for Scottish universities need to be improved in the wake of the cronyism row.
It is being led by SFC chief operating officer Martin Fairbairn and RGU governor Sylvia Halkerston, and is expected to report in December.
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Prof von Prondzynski stepped down at the end of August after seven years at the helm at RGU, and was replaced by deputy principal John Harper.
At the time, he said: “I recognise that the outcome of the investigation has caused division and therefore had a damaging impact on the university’s reputation, which I personally hugely regret.
“Therefore, my main reason for deciding to step down is to allow RGU to recover from these events.”
