Heavyweight Stevie Malcolm - dubbed The Fat Controller over the taxi firms he runs - has kept himself on the straight and narrow as he built up a huge personal fortune.
The 46-year-old boasts a fleet of luxury cars and a string of sprawling homes - including one £9million pad with a £1.4million fish tank.
And yesterday he was revealed as the owner of the plush property where fraud probe pal Hughes, 31, lives in Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire.
But as well as raking in cash from taxi and beauty firms, in his background lurk links to TWO Glasgow crime dynasties as well as a web of shadowy underworld figures.
Last night a source revealed: "Stevie is a businessman first and foremost.
"He is aware there are always these rumours surrounding him, but he doesn't really care. As far as he's concerned he's squeaky clean and nothing can touch him."
Malcolm - who lives in a detached home in upmarket Whitecraigs, Glasgow - is known to have had a close friendship with feared crimelord Tam 'The Licensee' McGraw. And he is still in league with the gangster's widow Margaret, 58, according to the latest company records filed last November.
She sold cab firm Glasgow Private Hire to him in the 1990s - when it was called Mac Cars - and still owns 40 per cent of the company.
Malcolm has a 50 per cent stake in the business, with his wife Julie owning the remaining ten per cent.
Accounts revealed the firm raked in a massive £2.5million between November 2002 and November 2003 - a whopping £50,000 a week.
House ... boss lives in plush home in WhitecraigsMalcolm - who was then the man behind the Tan Ko tanning salon chain - and fellow boss Thomas Wallace rewarded themselves with a 48 per cent pay rise.
The millionaire magnate is also connected to the McGovern crime clan through his cab companies.
Malcolm is a director of taxi firm Edinburgh City Private Hire, and fellow boss Allan Gibson was once at the helm of Network Private Hire - based in the heart of the McGoverns' stamping ground in Springburn, Glasgow. Network - the second-biggest taxi firm in Scotland at the time - was at the centre of a probe into the McGoverns' fortune in 2004.
And the investigation also included Barry Hughes and his dad Donald.
Their homes and offices were hit by Operation Maple, a joint exercise between the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency, Customs and the National Criminal Intelligence Service. Hardest hit in the probe into alleged money laundering by the McGovern clan was Russell Stirton - said to be a key lieutenant.
Stirton owned a petrol station selling the UK's cheapest fuel and cops believed the set-up was really a McGovern cash-cleaning scheme.
Police swooped on a string of addresses - including a pub and lawyers' and accountants' offices - linked to Stirton in simultaneous raids.
Law chiefs were convinced the 50-year-old porn baron was crooked - but the long-running probe failed to produce any evidence and authorities now face handing back assets which were seized in 2004. Malcolm had his own brush with the law in 1994 when he was accused of burning down Strathclyde Police's stolen car section before the charges were later dropped.
Last night the source told how Malcolm has devoted his life to making cash - and won't stand anyone crossing him.
The insider said: "Stevie takes money very seriously and as someone to deal with on a personal level he is as straight as they come.
"But cross him and you're in trouble. He hates anyone doing him out of money, right down to a penny. He can be quite generous and he will help folk out, but he detests anyone who tries to pull a fast one with him."
The source added: "He's got his finger in everything, not just taxis, and has built up a personal fortune of about £28million through his business dealings.
"He is pretty shrewd and can spot an opportunity to make money right away.
"He makes out he's just a regular guy who happens to have made a few quid, but he takes his money-making extremely seriously - and next to football and golf it's his favourite hobby."
Loaded Malcolm is listed as the director of nine different companies - including five cab firms.
He is also a director of three property development businesses and a hairdressing and beauty firm.
The source revealed: "He's a fair but firm boss and there aren't many who work for him or with him who will have a bad word to say about it."
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The golf-mad millionaire splashed some of his cash buying an exclusive plot of land overlooking the Queen's course at Gleneagles, Perthshire.
He built his £9million mansion - which boasts six bedrooms and two swimming pools - on the spot, where neighbours include financiers and oil tycoons.
Malcolm has even been rumoured to have been on the verge of buying his own football club.
The taxi tycoon was hotly tipped to be about to make a bid for St Mirren last September after they went for sale with an asking price of up to £5million. Sources close to Malcolm claimed he had been keen to invest in a football club for months.
But the entrepreneur denied the claims and insisted he wasn't interested in buying the Buddies.
Last night there was no one available to comment at Malcolm's luxurious Whitecraigs home.
A white Rolls-Royce with a private registration and a flash Porsche were sitting in the driveway but no one answered when we tried to contact him through the intercom.
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