Paul Dobson

5 days ago | thenational.scot | Paul Dobson

A COMPANY closely linked to a family whose members have donated to the Conservatives and Better Together has faced scrutiny from the UN over allegations of land grabbing and human rights abuses in Indonesia. Jardine Matheson – a Hong Kong-based firm with Scottish roots – was contacted last October by UN officials seeking “clarification” about allegations raised against another firm it ultimately controls, Astra Agro Lestari (AAL), which produces palm oil in the island of Sulawesi.

1 month ago | bloomberg.com | Paul Dobson

Upward pressure on the perennially weak Taiwan dollar may have been brewing for some time. (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan’s currency jumped 6.2% against the US dollar over two days at the start of May, an almost unprecedented move given the island’s normally stable exchange rates.

1 month ago | bloomberg.com | Paul Dobson

(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan’s dollar extended a rally from the previous week, surging more than 2% in the first minutes of trading Monday. USD/TWD -2.5% to 30.29, lowest level since Feb. 2023NOTE: Dollar’s Decline Is Fueling Dislocations Across Asian CurrenciesMore stories like this are available on bloomberg.com©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

1 month ago | thenational.scot | Karin Goodwin |Paul Dobson

MORE than 400 members of staff at Scotland’s universities earn more than the First Minister, despite a funding crisis engulfing the sector that could see lower paid roles axed. A Ferret analysis as part of our Who Runs Scotland series found at least 448 university staff are paid more than John Swinney, who earns £135,605 as the first minister of Scotland. In total, 1250 members of staff across the country’s 15 universities were paid more than £100,000 per year.

Feb 12, 2025 | dailyrecord.co.uk | Paul Dobson |John Ferguson

The new chairman of the Scottish Conservatives led a company which admitted benefitting from “corrupt payments” made to a Russian firm. Oil drilling multi-national Abbot Group told prosecutors it profited from the transactions which were made in 2007 in relation to a contract to supply oil rigs. Investigative journalism website, The Ferret, has found that at that time the new Tory chair Alasdair Locke was executive chairman and a major shareholder of Abbot, which he also founded.