Growing calls for inquiry into Peter Murrell embezzlement case
It came as Sir Keir Starmer said there are ‘questions that need to be answered’
Calls are growing for independent inquiry into how Peter Murrell was able to embezzle more than £400,000 from the SNP.
They came as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said there were “questions that need to be answered” by those at the top of the party.
Alex Neil, a former SNP Cabinet minister, said a senior lawyer should be tasked with examining what went wrong and why.
And ex-SNP MP Joanna Cherry KC insisted there needed to be “a properly independent inquiry into how this was allowed to happen”.
Murrell, who is Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband, pled guilty to embezzling £400,310.65 from the SNP over a 12-year period.
Police said the 61-year-old abused his privileged position to “bankroll the lavish lifestyle he craved but could not afford”.
Ms Sturgeon has said she had “no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever that personal items had been purchased using SNP funds”.
Mr Neil, who served under both Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, told The Scotsman: "I think there has to be an independent probe.”
He said the SNP should hire “a totally independent, very senior KC to investigate the whole thing”, with a remit set by the party’s national executive committee (NEC) and potential input from forensic accountants.
"It's not just looking at the finances, it's looking at the management and governance of the party,” he said.
Ms Cherry said those raising internal concerns over financial transparency were deliberately frustrated by the party hierarchy in 2020.
She also called for an independent probe, and said this would have to be “shorter, sharper and more focused” than a full public inquiry.
She suggested it could be carried out by an independent KC, or led by a Holyrood committee.
Speaking to The Scotsman, she said: “The SNP is the party of government. They have had this huge financial, internal scandal. It can’t just get swept under the carpet.”
Ms Cherry said Ms Sturgeon showed a “remarkable lack of curiosity” over the SNP’s finances.
The former MP said she first raised concerns about money donated to a ring-fenced independence fund in 2019. She resigned from the NEC in 2021 amid concerns about financial transparency.
Douglas Chapman had resigned as the party’s national treasurer just days earlier, saying he had not "received the support of financial information required to carry out the fiduciary duties".
In June 2019, former Alex Salmond aide Chris McEleny had raised concerns more broadly about financial governance of the party.
In an email to then-treasurer Colin Beattie, he expressed surprise at having been told Mr Beattie was the only person able to answer his questions.
“Perhaps you would have an opinion on how that places us in terms of good governance relating to financial oversight as I’m surprised that the financial operation of the party relies solely on you,” he wrote.
On February 8, 2021, Mr McEleny wrote again to Kirsten Oswald, who was then chair of the NEC, calling for Mr Murrell to be suspended pending an independent investigation.
He said he received no response to this, despite having included all NEC members in the email chain, and left the party the following month.
Mr McEleny, who defected to the Alba Party, believes he was the first person to raise concerns about checks and balances regarding the SNP’s finances.
Murrell used the embezzled cash to buy a range of items, including a motorhome, various luxury goods and two cars. Other purchases included designer kitchenware, multiple pairs of shoes, expensive pens and a £1,200 space telescope.
He is due to be sentenced next month.
In a statement released through lawyer Aamer Anwar, Ms Sturgeon said she and Murrell had had separate bank accounts, and she had no access to his financial records.
“In relation to many of the items in question, for example expensive watches and games consoles, I was not aware of them having been purchased at all,” she said.
Adding that she and Murrell were “both earning high salaries”, Ms Sturgeon said: “In respect of any items I was aware of Peter having purchased, I had no reason to doubt that he had used his own money.”
She also stressed she was “cleared of any wrongdoing after a lengthy and thorough investigation” by Police Scotland.
Asked if SNP leader and First Minister John Swinney had questions to answer about the Murrell case, Sir Keir said: “I think anybody looking at what’s happening up in Scotland will be baffled that those at the top of the SNP say they didn’t know anything about what was going on, so clearly there are questions that need to be answered.”
Mr Swinney, however, said: “I don’t really think I will be listening much to what Keir Starmer says about anything.”
He went on to insist that his party’s finances were “strong” despite what had happened.
Mr Swinney told journalists that “strong and effective governance” arrangements which he put in place after becoming leader two years ago meant supporters were still “donating substantially” to the party.
As a result, he said, the party had spent “the best part of £1 million” on its recent Holyrood election campaign.
In Holyrood on Tuesday, the Scottish Conservatives urged prosecutors to publish the reasons why they did not pursue charges against Ms Sturgeon, who was arrested and released without charge in 2023.
Mr Swinney accused the Tories of disrespecting and insulting the rule of law, and also denied claims he had tried to sweep the scandal under the carpet.
He said he held a press conference on Monday afternoon and took questions from journalists for 50 minutes.