Police Scotland's investigation into the SNP's finances began in June 2021 when questions were raised about where over £600,000 was spent. Photo: Watty Cheung
Police in Scotland have consulted with the National Crime Agency about an investigation into the finances of the SNP, it appears.
Detectives working on the case approached a body dubbed the British FBI to investigate. an independent review of his work months before Nicola Sturgeon's home was ransacked and her husband, former SNP executive Peter Murrell, arrested.
Although the results of his work were not made public, the investigation intensified after external “peer review”.
In addition to searching Ms Sturgeon's home, the police seized a luxurious motorhome in the driveway of Mr Murrell's elderly mother-in-law, and raided the SNP headquarters in Edinburgh.
p>
It is considered good practice for officers working on complex or high-profile cases to call in other forces to check on their work.
A police source told the BBC that checks are usually “carried out to check status, strategy and lines of inquiry.”
They added: “A review verifies the correctness of the lines of investigation, nothing has been omitted and the justification is proportionate and necessary.”
The National Crime Agency specializes in fighting serious and organized crime around the world. The UK, including Scotland, where the police have been transferred.
The Scottish Police investigation into SNP finances began in June 2021 when questions were raised about where over £600,000 raised in referendum donations went about independence, which never took place. was spent.
Members were assured that the cash would be set aside for campaigning in a future vote to leave the UK, but there was no clear sign of the cash on the party's accounts.
Colin Beatty, a former SNP treasurer who had previously tried to reassure members over the money, was also arrested.
Both he and Mr. Murrell were released without charge pending further inquiries while the investigation continues.
Ms. Sturgeon is the third person named in the SNP reports, along with Mr. Murrell and Mr. Beatty. The former first minister, who abruptly announced her resignation in February, was not arrested and was not spoken to by the police. A woman's razor, a wheelbarrow, pens, and a refrigerator-freezer were reportedly included in the police warrant, which is over 100 pages long.
SNP data has recently begun to question the conduct of the police, whose investigation is known as Operation Branchform.< /p>
Ms. Sturgeon's loyalists were particularly upset by the use of a forensic tent in the search of Ms. Sturgeon's home, which is believed to have been used to prevent the public and the media from seeing what was being seized.
James Dornan, who represents Sturgeon's neighboring SNP constituency in Holyrood, said: “Seriously, who was responsible for this fiasco? Who ordered this to happen, and if or when we find that nothing unforeseen has happened, then who will be held responsible?
“This public travesty of police work would never have happened to a prime minister or a former prime minister, so why was it okay in Scotland?”
Meanwhile, Murray Foote, a former senior SNP publicist who resigned in March after publishing misleading claims about party membership, wondered whether the investigation could be a “wild goose chase”. “.
He called the police raid on Ms Sturgeon's house a 'grotesque circus'.
A police spokesman for Scotland said: “As the investigation continues, we cannot comment further.” .
Recent Comments