Police Scotland said it was carrying out an 'assessment' new charges against Michael Matheson, former health secretary Photo: Jane Barlow/PA
Police are considering a new complaint against Michael Matheson, the disgraced SNP politician, over an £11,000 iPad data roaming bill he tried to recover from taxpayers .< /p>
Police Scotland said it was “assessing” new charges against the former health secretary after an earlier complaint in November was examined but found not to merit further action.
A Holyrood committee has since completed its investigation into the incident. which resulted in Mr Matheson being suspended from serving in the Scottish Parliament for a record 27 days and deprived of pay for 54 days.
Mr Matheson initially claimed that he had run up his iPad bill while in Morocco. solely thanks to work in parliament.
However, his story fell apart and he later stated that he had discovered that his teenage sons were using the device to broadcast football matches. matches and he returned the money.
Legal commentators argue that Holyrood should call the police to investigate the matter, saying it appears he committed fraud in his expenses claim.
The police statement will be a blow to the Scottish National Party, whose general election campaign was disrupted by the Matheson saga.
Party MPs refused to vote on sanctions against the Falkirk West MP this week, who rejected calls to resign from his seat.
Mairi Macallan, a senior Scottish National Party politician, on Thursday urged voters to “forget” about the scandal and called it a “political bubble problem.”
A Police Scotland spokesman said on Friday: “The complaint received in November 2023 was reviewed and no further action was taken. Another complaint has been received and is under investigation.”
Mr Matheson has publicly stated that the iPad was not used for personal purposes while he was on holiday over Christmas 2022. He later said that he found out about it. his sons used it a few months after the holiday on November 9 last year.
Jackie Bailey, deputy leader of Scottish Labor, told MPs this week that it took “only two minutes” for members of the public to realize the bill had largely been paid during two major Scottish football matches after the detailed bill was published. < /p>
She said teenage boys “love football and it is a passion that many will share with their fathers”, but Mr Matheson insisted to Holyrood authorities there was no misuse of the device, despite the evidence .
He eventually resigned as health minister in February after clinging to his position for months.
John Swinney, the First Minister, called Matheson a “friend” and criticized the Holyrood trial that led to his record punishment.
On Thursday Sir Keir Starmer accused Mr Swinney of “taking Boris Johnson's method ” in Mr Matheson's defence.
He backed calls from Holyrood to introduce a recall mechanism that operates in Westminster and allows members of the public to get rid of disgraced politicians.
“There is chaos and division in both Westminster and the Scottish National Party,” Sir Keir said. “You have unelected leader after unelected leader in Westminster and in the Scottish National Party.
“And now, on standards of public life, you have the Scottish National Party sticking to the Boris Johnson playbook. I mean, how amazing the examples are.”
Douglas Ross said: “In every other walk of life” Michael Matheson was would have been fired' Photo: SST/Alamy Live News
Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Tories, said: “This latest development once again highlights John Swinney's disgraceful mishandling of the Michael Matheson scandal.”
“This is clearly a police matter.” . Scotland to determine whether a criminal offense has been committed.
“But nevertheless, we know that in any other walk of life Michael Matheson would have been sacked for wrongly claiming £11,000. and then lied repeatedly to cover his tracks. “
The SNP has been approached for comment.
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