A £3.5 MILLION Commonwealth Games legacy project is embroiled in nepotism claims over a string of posts occupied by a local Labour councillor’s friends and family.

Board positions linked to the Dalmarnock Legacy Hub were filled by relatives of Glasgow Calton councillor Yvonne Kucuk, whose husband also works at the centre.

A cousin of Labour’s other ward councillor, George Redmond, also works at the Hub while another relative used to sit on the board.

The Hub was opened by football legend Kenny Dalglish and council leader Frank McAveety in October and houses a nursery, GP and dental surgery, pharmacy, cafe, community hall and other facilities.

BACKGROUND TO THE ROW

The project was overseen from the beginning by the People’s Development Trust (PDT), a charity that runs the Hub and which hired Kucuk as the £35,000-a-year regeneration manager.

Another Labour councillor, Maureen Burke, also declares a paid job at the Trust.

An investigation by this newspaper can now reveal the extent of the Kucuk family links to the publicly-funded Hub.

Kucuk took up her post in 2011 and her cousin Alan Kennedy was appointed to the PDT board in the same year.

He left in July 2014 and his son Robert joined the board weeks later.

Kucuk’s husband is also working at the Hub and one of her local political allies, David Stewart, joined the board in 2011 as an 18-year-old before leaving last year.

He describes himself on social media as a “founding director” of the PDT and has blogged on how he helped campaign for McAveety and his local councillors: “I was actively involved in canvassing for my then local MSP Frank McAveety in the 2011 election and then again for my local Labour councillors in the local government elections of 2012.”

Stewart said he could "understand" the perception surrounding appointments, but said: "She [Yvonne] has delivered a successful project."

Picture: Kenny Dalglish opening the Hub

Redmond, the only other Labour councillor who represents the Calton ward, was also on the PDT board for a spell.

His cousin William Faulds has a job at the Hub and Kenneth Edward Faulds – the son of another of Redmond’s cousins – was briefly a PDT board member.

Redmond said: “The entire Redmond family, inspired by the example and commitment of my late parents, have been active in community work in Bridgeton-Dalmarnock my entire life.”

Kucuk was elected to the council in 2012 and is reportedly thinking of making the step up to Holyrood.

This newspaper revealed in October that a complaint had been made to the council about the PDT’s governance.

The recruitment process that led to Kucuk’s appointment in 2011 was carried out by the Glasgow East Regeneration Agency (GERA), a charity set up to tackle poverty.

In 2012, it was reported that outgoing GERA chief executive Ronnie Saez had been given a golden goodbye worth £500,000 by Labour councillors.

A charity watchdog ruled that part of the pay-off agreed by GERA amounted to “misconduct”.

David Meikle, a Tory councillor in the city, said: “ The Dalmarnock Legacy Hub was about regenerating the East End and helping local people – not employment opportunities for Labour councillors’ relatives. It smacks of utter cronyism and nepotism. We need to see evidence of the PDT’s recruitment process for board members and employees. I think the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator may need to look into this.”

SNP MP John Mason said: “A question I would ask is: were these posts advertised?”

Kucuk did not respond to the Sunday Herald’s attempts to contact her.