THE Scottish Greens have called for an independent inquiry into all parties finances.
It comes as Scottish Labour are set to force a Holyrood vote on a probe into the SNP following Peter Murrell pleading guilty to embezzlement of more than £400,000.
Co-leader Ross Greer has lodged an amendment to Labour's motion, calling for an independent review led by a neutral figure, instead of a parliamentary inquiry by MSPs.
The Scottish Greens dubbed Scottish Labour's approach "opportunistic" and challenged other parties to set out whether they were truly interested in providing transparency, or just seeking to attack the SNP.
The party said the review would not be limited to any one political party and would consider issues such as financial transparency, the influence of extremely wealthy individuals making large donations and so-called "dark money" organisations who do not disclose their own funding sources.
Labour have claimed a Holyrood inquiry is “a matter of trust and integrity” and have questioned why SNP leader John Swinney "wants to avoid this scrutiny".
The Scottish Greens have now challenged Labour and the Tories to expand this probe out to all political parties in Scotland.
Greer said: “Peter Murrell’s crimes were a horrendous breach of the trust of SNP members and supporters. He will now face the consequences of his actions.
“Labour are now trying to waste taxpayers’ money on an inquiry into the SNP without even explaining what the point would be. Politicians shouldn’t be marking each other’s homework, which is why the Scottish Greens will instead put forward plans for an independent review of political party finances as a whole.
“Labour and the Tories now have a choice to make. Did they call for this review because they’re serious about restoring trust in politics, or because they want another stick to beat the SNP with?
“We need to talk about the influence that wealthy individuals and organisations wield via their donations to politicians and the huge amount of secrecy that still surrounds money in politics.
“Westminster has long refused to do anything about this lack of transparency, for obvious reasons. That's why the Scottish Greens’ proposal also calls for these powers to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
"If MPs won’t improve transparency across the UK, MSPs can at least do that here in Scotland.”
It comes as the SNP's former treasurer, Douglas Chapman, said a Westminster inquiry would be a “political bloodbath rather than getting to the facts".
The Scottish Affairs Committee is due to discuss whether or not to launch a probe during a meeting on Tuesday afternoon.
