Police have questioned some of the most senior ministers in Nicola Sturgeon’s Cabinet as part of their investigation into allegations of SNP fraud, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Just over a year after the arrest of the ex-prime minister’s husband, Peter Murrell, detectives have questioned a handful of members of his former management team in a bid to understand a possible culture of secrecy within of the SNP headquarters.
They include those from Ms Sturgeon’s very first cabinet in 2014.
Meanwhile, this newspaper understands a new officer has been appointed to oversee Operation Branchform, which insiders say is an attempt to take a “fresh look” at the investigation before an official report is released. be handed over to the Crown Office.
Prosecutors, not police, will decide whether charges will be filed. A source said yesterday: “A new lead investigator was appointed about three or four months ago to have a good read on everything.
Peter Murrell and his wife Nicola Sturgeon
“There was a lot of back and forth between the police and the Crown Office. If the police believe, on sufficient evidence, that SNP officials should be charged and the Crown Office believes they should not be, for example, Police Scotland would make their views known.
“Interviews were carried out with former Cabinet ministers who were in office when Ms Sturgeon took office.”
Rumors have circulated in Holyrood that charges could be laid imminently. A source with knowledge of the investigation said: “The problem for the Crown Office is that we are approaching a general election so they will have to make a decision as soon as possible or wait until after that. It’s quite a problem.
However, the interviews continue. Former ministers who served under Ms Sturgeon have been questioned as police try to establish whether there was a long-standing culture of secrecy surrounding the party’s management.
The latest revelation comes almost exactly a year after news of Mr Murrell’s arrest sent shockwaves across the country.
The Operation Branchform investigation, launched in May 2021, focuses on how money raised in 2017 and 2019 as part of a “referendum appeal” was used.
Concern was first raised when the SNP’s accounts showed less than £100,000 in the bank in 2019, despite donating £600,000 to the referendum appeal, triggering at least 19 criminal complaints.
On April 5, 2023, detectives arrested Mr Murrell after searching his home in Glasgow.
Ms Sturgeon was seen leaving the property shortly after 8am, before a convoy of police vans arrived and a forensic tent was set up in the front garden. Detectives also raided the SNP headquarters in Edinburgh. Mr Murrell was released from police custody without charge the same evening.
However, the scandal intensified days later when the Scottish Mail revealed on Sunday that police had also seized a camper van worth £110,000 outside Mr Murrell’s mother’s home in Dunfermline.
Officers impounded the vehicle the same morning as Mr. Murrell’s arrest. Two weeks later, SNP treasurer Colin Beattie was arrested by police, followed by Ms Sturgeon’s arrest on June 11.
The camper van worth £110,000 was seized by police outside Mr Murrell’s mother’s house.
The three people arrested were later released without charge.
Since then, police have gone through extensive evidence amid reports that £600,000 had gone missing. After the investigation began, Mr Murrell, then chief executive of the SNP, loaned the party £107,620, to help manage its “cash flow”.
The SNP only disclosed the loan 14 months later, in breach of the Political Finance Act.
Detectives are investigating whether financial documents held by the party were falsified.
Officers have previously questioned witnesses about a list of purchases made by the party, including a £95,000 Jaguar, sprinklers, watering systems and luxury pens.
Last month, senior SNP sources claimed they wanted their camper van back from the police before the general election.
An SNP spokesperson said: “These matters are the subject of a live police investigation. The SNP has cooperated fully with this investigation and will continue to do so. However, it is not appropriate to publicly address issues while this investigation is ongoing.
Police Scotland said: “As the investigation is ongoing we are unable to comment.”
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