Nicola Sturgeon is no longer under investigation as part of the police case looking into alleged mishandling of Scottish National party funds.
Police Scotland said the former Scottish first minister would not face any charges after her former husband, Peter Murrell, appeared for a private hearing at Edinburgh sheriff court on a single charge of embezzlement on Thursday.
“I am completely in the clear,” Sturgeon told reporters outside her home in Uddingston, near Glasgow. “That is the outcome I would always have expected.”
Sturgeon, 54, and the former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie, 73, were arrested in 2023 as part of Operation Branchform, a long-running police inquiry into allegations that up to £650,000 of SNP funds had been handled fraudulently.
In a statement, Police Scotland said: “Following direction from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, criminal inquiries into two people arrested as part of the investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National party have now concluded.
“The 73-year-old man arrested on 18 April 2023 and the 54-year-old woman arrested on 11 June 2023 have not been charged and are no longer under investigation.”
Sturgeon said that the day was one of “mixed emotions”.
“I was advised earlier today that after a very thorough investigation of all of the evidence, there will be no action taken against me. [As] I have said to all of you many times, I have done nothing wrong, so I was confident of reaching this point but obviously it is a relief now to have that confirmed,” she said.
“For almost two years I have had this cloud of investigation hanging over me. It won’t surprise anybody to hear me say that’s not been an easy experience, so to reach this point today is obviously something I am relieved about. I’ve been trying to go on with my life and I now intend to do that.”
Beattie told reporters at Holyrood on Thursday he was very relieved to have been cleared, and said he intended to stand again for parliament next year.
“I knew myself I had done nothing wrong but two years is a long time to wait for a result,” he said. “I’ve had tremendous support from constituents and members. I can at least relax and get back to family life now.”
The confirmation came after it emerged that Murrell, who served as the SNP’s chief executive for 22 years, had made no plea during his court appearance, a routine hearing that formally begins the prosecution process.
The Crown Office has not yet released the charge against him.
Murrell was arrested in April 2023 after police came to the home he then shared with Sturgeon in Uddingston, as police mounted a simultaneous raid on the SNP’s headquarters near the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh.
Police erected tents outside their detached home, carrying out extensive searches of the property and its garden and shed, while removing documents and computers from their home and the SNP’s offices.
Police later confiscated a luxury motorhome parked outside Murrell’s mother’s home in Fife.
After being released pending further investigation, Murrell was rearrested on 18 April 2024 and charged with embezzlement. In late 2024, Police Scotland submitted an extensive report to the Crown Office, setting out the evidence it had gathered.
Murrell has made no public comment about his arrest or the investigation, but Sturgeon has repeatedly said she was innocent of any wrongdoing since her arrest in June 2023.
Sturgeon, whose memoirs will be published in August, announced in January that she and Murrell were to divorce and indicated they had been living separate lives for some time. Earlier in March, she confirmed she would not be standing for re-election to Holyrood in next year’s Scottish parliament elections.
Source: theguardian.com
