A GLASGOW quango is facing an investigation into how it spends European Union cash.

The Evening Times understands Jobs & Business Glasgow has been asked to account for more than £150,000 by the Scottish Government in a move that could see the money clawed back.

The organisation – which was called Glasgow's Regeneration Agency until a relaunch earlier this year – reported a net deficit of more than £1m in its last annual accounts and has shed scores of staff in recent years.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said officials responsible for Scotland's share of EU funding had "raised a query" with the agency over the money.

She said: "We are required to carry out checks on all European funded projects to ensure the money is spent in line with the grant agreement.

"It is not unusual for those checks to raise queries or for us to recover funds because sponsors underspend the allocations, have incomplete document trail, or when they have made an error in how they use the funds.

"This is not the end of the process and when the organisation demonstrates the funds have supported eligible activity and supply supporting documentation then we do not need to make any recovery of funds.

"We will continue to discuss the issues raised with the project sponsor."

The Evening Times understands Government officials are looking in detail at funding from the European Structural Fund and the European Regional Development Fund.

A spokesman for Jobs & Business Glasgow insisted the query from the Scottish Government was routine. He said: "Checks into the allocation of such funds are, quite rightly, common practice.

"The Scottish Government has conducted several routine visits on Glasgow's Regeneration Agency legacy projects over the last year.

"These visits enable the Scottish Government to evaluate the work undertaken during the duration of the project and facilitate the resolution of any potential queries."

The quango was created by merging five local regeneration companies across the city.

The merger caused controversy when the boss of one of the disbanded agencies, Ronnie Saez, was given a £500,000 pay-off to leave.

This decision was later described as "misconduct" and "wholly inappropriate" by Scotland's charities watchdog.

david.leask@ eveningtimes.co.uk