Nicola Sturgeon facing calls to be suspended from the SNP
Police continue the search of Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell's house
Nicola Sturgeon is facing calls to be suspended from the SNP amid an investigation into the party’s finances. This comes after it was claimed that the former party leader told the SNP not to ask about finances. Party insiders alleged that the then First Minister ordered the SNP’s ruling body to stop asking questions about the party’s finances soon after Police Scotland started investigating the party.
It has been claimed she tried to prevent the National Executive Committee (NEC) from asking questions about more than £600,000 which went missing from party accounts.
The money had been raised to fund a second independence campaign.
Responding to reports about Ms Sturgeon’s conduct, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Jackie Baillie called for new SNP leader Humza Yousaf to take action.
She told the Telegraph: “This bombshell revelation goes to show just how central Nicola Sturgeon was to the secrecy and culture of cover-up that festered within the SNP.
“She has big questions to answer over her actions and [First Minister] Humza Yousaf must consider suspending her party membership and that of her husband, former chief executive Peter Murrell, until the investigation has been concluded.”
Sources claimed that Ms Sturgeon told a recorded meeting of the NEC in August 2021, a month after police launched an investigation: “We don’t need to talk about the finances. The finances are absolutely fine.”
One source told the Sunday Mail that Ms Sturgeon told the meeting that “there was nothing wrong with the accounts and that people should stop talking about it because it was undermining the party”.
They claimed: “It’s fair to say she was pretty raging about it.
“She went on at some length telling everyone that everything was absolutely fine and that it shouldn’t be discussed.”
The SNP is currently subject to a police investigation into whether £600,000 earmarked for independence campaigning was diverted elsewhere in 2021.
Ms Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell was arrested earlier this month and released without charge 11 hours later as part of an investigation into the funding and finances of the SNP.
Last week, the Daily Express revealed that a former SNP office bearer sent an email to Mr Murrell, in which he offered the then chief executive a “clear plan” to “fix what was going on before things got out of hand”.
The email, seen by Express.co.uk, saw Mr Henry tell Mr Murrell he has been contacted by people “all over the country” blasting “failures of the party.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, Mr Henry claimed: “I told him that the party will be damaged and members will leave.
“If indeed money had to be spent on things that weren’t for the purpose then they should come clean and tell the membership [what] they spent it on.”
The SNP has refuted that the £600,000 has gone missing, with Ms Sturgeon previously saying: “The finances of the SNP are independently audited, our accounts are sent to the Electoral Commission in common with other parties and of course published so there’s full scrutiny around that.
“Money hasn’t gone missing, all money goes through the SNP accounts independently and fully audited and we don’t hold separate accounts.
“We are under no legal requirement to do that. Our accounts are managed on a cash flow basis but every penny we raise to support the campaign for independence will be spent on the campaign for independence.”
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