Thu, 20th August Cardiff 15°
Nation.Cymru wordmark
Advertisement

News

Nicola Sturgeon cleared in SNP finance probe

By Stephen Price
Former leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) Nicola Sturgeon speaking to the media outside her home in Uddingston, Glasgow. Photo Jane Barlow PA Images

Former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has been cleared in a police investigation into the SNP’s finances.

Ms Sturgeon and former party treasurer Colin Beattie were both arrested in 2023 but released pending further investigation in the probe – named Operation Branchform by Police Scotland.

Mr Beattie was also cleared by police, who announced the move in a statement on Thursday.

The news comes after Ms Sturgeon’s estranged husband and former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell appeared in court charged with embezzlement.

[lower-mid-content-banner]

Statement

In a statement, Police Scotland said: “Following direction from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, criminal enquiries 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.”

[lower-mid-content-banner]

For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.

Get more trusted Welsh news

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News to see more of our journalism.

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News

7 comments

Stephen Thomas

They knew she was innocent all along- it was a put up job to discredit the INDY movement and how long did this case take 2/3 years MI6 dirty tricks

Reply
hdavies15

Dirty tricks for sure but she wasn't above a bit of that in her time either. Sadly her dirty tricks were pretty ineffective whereas the tactics of UK Gov agencies did for her.

Reply
Cwm Rhondda

Too true, the British state has been masters of such dirty tricks for many years.

Reply
Mark

Who is 'They' in this context? Given that Sturgeon was the leader of an organisation that couldn't account for a significant sum of money donated to it for a referendum campaign that never happened, and that £110,000 of the missing money appeared on her monther-in-law's drive in the form of a motorhome, I think the police had every right to think she might know something about it.

Reply
Undecided

Absolutely - and this is what the comments would be saying if she was a Tory.

Reply
Alan Jones

First they came for the SNP.

Reply
John Glyn

Make no mistake, what we have witnessed over these past four years are the British state’s desperate attempts to completely demonise, discredit, Nicola Sturgeon. They have pulled out all the stops to assassinate her character both politically and personally. The tools and resources they have utilized have brought to the fore all the cohorts, legions of supporters, in the so called “Scottish" press and media, state broadcaster BBC, and all the sold out "Scottish" politicians who have acted as Westminster's Rottweilers. These people have been been as vile, disingenuous, disrespectful, and underhanded, as they possibly could at any and every mention of her in the past. So be under no illusions. The vilification will not stop. In the future they will continue to smear her with every possible allegation of misconduct or misdeed they can cook up, with little regard to facts or truth. Why do they behave like this? It's simple. Because they still fear her.

Reply

Leave a reply

Replying to John Glyn Cancel

Make no mistake, what we have witnessed over these past four years are the British state’s desperate attempts to completely demonise, discredit, Nicola Sturgeon. They have pulled out all the stops to assassinate her character both political...

Comments are reviewed before they appear.