THE company behind a controversial charity scheme that targeted Barrhead residents went bust in 2009.

Fundraiser Bruno Schultz – nicknamed ‘The Vulture’ – was at the centre of one of Scotland’s biggest charity scandals.

However, he had his businesses, Goodwill Cancer Company and Rosebuds (UK) Ltd, halted a decade ago.

Insolvency watchdogs found that, of the £250,000 raised through his firms, £190,000 went to directors of the company and just £22,500 to good causes.

Three years earlier, Schultz was accused of raising £300,000 a year for the Moonbeams Charity for sick kids – but handing over only £50,000.

And, in 2008, he used a legal loophole to charge Barrhead residents £3 for each Rosebuds magazine, which detailed basic facts about cancer.

But contained in the small print was the fact Rosebuds was a private firm, NOT a charity, with nothing Scotland’s charity regulator could do about it.

Trading standards officers warned locals not to buy the newsletter if they wanted to be charitable because there was no monitoring how much, if anything, was going to sick children.

The business had a number of collectors in Barrhead and Neilston, who kept £1 for every newsletter they sold, with the rest going to Schultz.

One resident who alerted the Barrhead News: “It’s an absolute disgrace this man benefited by calling himself a fundraiser – but a relief he is no longer in business.”