The co-founder of Stagecoach and transportation mogul Dame Ann Gloag has been charged with crimes related to human trafficking.

The co-founder of Stagecoach and transportation mogul Dame Ann Gloag has been charged with crimes related to human trafficking.

In conjunction with an investigation into alleged human trafficking and immigration offences, Police Scotland has charged four individuals this week.

The four people are believed to be David McCleary, Dame Ann's husband, and two other family members, who were also charged on Thursday, according to the police. According to a spokesman, Dame Ann, 80, "strongly opposes the vicious charges" made against her, her Perth-based Gloag Foundation, and family members.

In 1980, Dame Ann and her brother co-founded Stagecoach. They began by transporting passengers from Dundee to London using a school bus and two used coaches. The Independent has learned that the charges were brought after Dame Ann and her husband participated in a voluntary interview at the Falkirk police station and no arrests were made.

Dame Ann Gloag, who built the UK's largest bus and coach operator with her brother Brian Souter during Margaret Thatcher's deregulatory policies in the 1980s, was Scotland's richest woman when she retired in 2019. She owned Beaufort Castle, close to Inverness, since 2004 and was estimated by the Sunday Times Rich List to be worth £730 million in 2020. The 2019 New Year's Honours list recognised her contributions to business and philanthropy by naming her a Dame Commander.

As per a spokesman, "Dame Ann Gloag firmly opposes the vicious charges that have been made against her, her foundation, and members of her family. However, we are unable to comment on the specifics of an ongoing inquiry."

Additionally, they stated that she "will tenaciously defend herself and the work of her foundation to safeguard her legacy and continue her work aiding thousands of people in the UK and overseas every year."

According to its website, the Gloag Foundation is a trust that was established in 2004 with the goal of "supporting programmes that avoid or relieve poverty and stimulate the progress of education, health, and religion in the UK and abroad."

Dame Ann's charity, Freedom from Fistula, which helps mothers and children in Sierra Leone, Malawi, Madagascar, and earlier Kenya, is one of the organisations it sponsors.

As stated on its website, stagecoach currently employs up to 25,000 people and controls close to 25% of the UK bus market.

(independent.co.uk, guardian.co.uk)