Drug dealer busted with £300,000 of cocaine is behind a drone company which has been bankrolled with taxpayers' cash ... Kieran Hope's firm won funding from the Oil and Gas Technology Centre ... But critics say it is 'unacceptable' to keep details secret from the public
A DRUG dealer caught with £300,000 worth of cocaine in a police organised crime operation has been given taxpayers’ money to grow his drone business. Kieran Hope, 29, was handed a three-year prison sentence in 2014 and two years later launched Air Control Entech (ACE) which uses drones to conduct inspections in the oil and gas industry. A year later, he secured backing from The Oil & Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) which is funded by the Scottish and UK governments, academia and industry. There are no rules against convicted criminals from receiving public money but concerns have been raised over the OGTC’s refusal to disclose how much it gave to Hope’s firm. Hope ... boss of Air Control Entech In response to STV News , they said that all such deals are subject to ‘ non disclosure agreements ’ (NDA) which are typically used in legal agreements to protect commercially sensitive information. NDAs came in for criticism when high street retail tycoon Sir Phi