A LEADING independent publisher whose future is uncertain after a co-founder quit will not have to pay back grant cash it has received from the Scottish Government, its arts funding body.
Creative Scotland said it is “not considering any recoupment of funds at this stage” from Glasgow-based Freight Books, the publishing arm of Freight Design, which has received around £234,000 in grant cash in the last seven years.
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The future of the publishing division of the firm, which lists Irvine Welsh and Janice Galloway among its authors, remains uncertain since one of its two directors, Adrian Searle, suddenly resigned last month, citing "differences over strategic direction".
Co-founder Davinder Samrai moved to reassure writers their contracts would be honoured after being inundated with calls.
Concerns were also raised over potential repayment of grant funding.
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The company, which publishes Gutter magazine, received between £234,189 between 2010 and 2017.
In 2015 it received £70,000, last year £40,000 and in January it was given an £18,500 grant, all under broad-ranging open-project funding scheme.
At one stage Freight had to move to defend claims it had used part of a £70,000 grant to fund a book about SNP MPs called We Are The 56, saying none of the aid had been spent on the book and that a Creative Scotland credit logo was printed on the book by mistake.
A spokeswoman for Creative Scotland said: "To our knowledge, Freight Design (Scotland) Limited has complied with the terms and conditions of the funding we have provided, to date, to support their programme of publications.
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“Therefore, we are not considering any recoupment of funds at this stage.”
Mr Samrai said earlier he was “very keen to reiterate and reassure all our authors and their agents, as well as others with whom we work within the Scottish publishing community, that Freight Books is committed to meeting all our contractual obligations”.
"We continue to have a robust sales and distribution infrastructure in place, that ensures our list remains in the marketplace.
"For the avoidance of doubt and by the nature of his departure, Adrian Searle has revoked his ability to represent Freight Books in any capacity."
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Mr Searle said in a statement that it is "with much regret I have decided to leave the business I own jointly and resign as a company director to pursue other interests".
Freight - the 2015 Saltire Society Publisher of the Year winner - first published, in 2002, an anthology of writing about Scottish football entitled The Hope That Kills Us.
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