Man jailed for fraudulently selling tea received £50k grant
As reported by The Times, his business was given £50,000 in funding by Scottish Edge, which offers grants and loans to start-up businesses.
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Mr Robinson was given the funding after applying in 2015, with the organisation announcing the award to "Scotland's only tea plantation which counts Kensington Palace and Balmoral Hotel as customers".
Scottish Edge is funded by the Scottish government, the Scottish Enterprise quango, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Hunter Foundation.
Mr Robinson claimed to have grown tea on farmland in Perthshire and Dumfries and Galloway, but had in fact bought Italian tea from an English wholesaler.
Ron McNaughton, the head of the Scottish food crime and incidents unit at Food Standards Scotland, said: "His actions caused real financial and reputational harm to individuals, businesses and a developing sector of genuine Scottish tea producers.
This outcome is the result of a complex and painstaking investigation involving a dedicated team at FSS and the co-operation of partner agencies and key witnesses.
"It demonstrates that those who set out to mislead consumers and defraud businesses will be held accountable.'
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