Police question former Ministers in probe into SNP's 'missing' £600,000

Police have questioned some of Nicola Sturgeon’s most senior Cabinet Ministers as part of their investigation into claims of SNP fraud, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Little more than a year since the arrest of the ex-First Minister’s ­husband Peter Murrell, detectives have interviewed a handful of ­members of her former leadership team in a bid to understand a possible culture of secrecy within SNP HQ.

They include those in Ms Sturgeon’s first ever Cabinet in 2014.

Meanwhile, this newspaper understands a new officer has been appointed to oversee Operation Branchform, which insiders claim is an effort to run a ‘fresh pair of eyes’ over the investigation before an official report is handed to the Crown Office.

It will be prosecutors, not police, who will decide if charges are brought. A source yesterday said: ‘A new Senior Investigating Officer was put in charge about three or four months ago to have a proper read across everything.

‘There has been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between the police and the Crown Office. If police think, based on the sufficiency of evidence, that senior SNP figures should be charged and the Crown Office think they shouldn’t be, for example, Police Scotland would make their thoughts known.

‘There have been interviews done with former Cabinet Ministers who were in position when Ms Sturgeon took over.’

Rumours have swirled at Holyrood that charges could be brought imminently. One source with knowledge of the investigation said: ‘The problem the Crown Office has is we are approaching a General Election, so they will have to make a decision sooner rather than later or wait until after that. It is quite a problem.’

Yet interviews continue. Former Cabinet Ministers who served under Ms Sturgeon have been quizzed as the police attempt to establish if there has been a long-term culture of secrecy surrounding the running of the party.

The latest revelation comes almost exactly a year after news of Mr Murrell’s arrest sent shockwaves across the country.

The Operation Branchform probe, launched in May 2021, is focused on how money raised in 2017 and 2019 as part of a ‘referendum appeal’ has been used.

Concern was first raised when SNP accounts showed less than £100,000 in the bank in 2019, despite £600,000 being donated to the referendum appeal, sparking at least 19 criminal complaints.

On April 5, 2023, detectives arrested Mr Murrell after raiding his home in Glasgow. 

Ms Sturgeon was seen leaving the property shortly after 8am, before a convoy of police vans arrived and a forensics tent was set up in the front garden. Detectives also searched the SNP’s headquarters in Edinburgh. Mr Murrell was released from police custody without charge on the same evening.

However, the scandal intensified just days later when The Scottish Mail on Sunday revealed police had also seized a £110,000 motor­home from outside Mr Murrell’s mother’s home in Dunfermline.

Officers confiscated the vehicle on the same morning Mr Murrell was arrested. Two weeks later SNP treasurer Colin Beattie was detained by police, followed by Ms Sturgeon’s arrest on June 11.

All three of those arrested were later released without charge.

Since then, police have been wading through swathes of evidence amid reports the £600,000 had gone ‘missing’. After the probe began, then SNP chief executive Mr Murrell loaned the party £107,620, to assist with ‘cash flow’.

The SNP failed to disclose the loan until 14 months later, breaking political finance law.

Detectives are examining whether financial documents held by the party were doctored.

Officers have already questioned witnesses over a list of purchases made by the party, including a £95,000 Jaguar, sprinklers, hosing systems and luxury pens.

Last month, senior SNP sources claimed they wanted to get their campervan back from the police ahead of the General Election.

An SNP spokesman said: ‘These issues are subject to a live police investigation. The SNP have been co-operating fully with this investigation and will continue to do so. However, it is not appropriate to publicly address any issues while that investigation is ongoing.’

Police Scotland said: ‘As the investigation remains ongoing we are unable to comment.’