John Swinney has said he has strengthened the governance of the SNP amid new revelations around Peter Murrell’s embezzlement of party funds.
The former SNP chief and estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon returned to court today following his guilty plea last week to embezzling £400,310.65 from the party between August 2010 and October 2022.
Reading out the prosecution narrative on Tuesday morning, Alan Cameron KC said the funds in that account came mainly from “membership fees and donations paid by party members and other donors and legacies”.
He said Murrell falsified accounting records and created fake invoices in a bid to cover up his wrongdoing as he racked up purchases that included a £124,550 motorhome and thousands of pounds of luxury stationery.
In the aftermath of that hearing, the SNP leader told journalists at Holyrood on Tuesday afternoon that Murrell’s crimes show “there has not been, in every respect, adequate controls in place”.
Swinney said: “The systems that were in place should not have been able to be abused, but they were.”
However he insisted the party had now put in place the “strongest levels of financial control”, setting out various steps the party has taken since he became leader to improve financial governance.
“For me, obviously, I have come into office and I have strengthened the governance of the Scottish National Party so that members of the party are able to freely and openly express their views,” he said.
“I have put in place the strongest level of financial control and financial assurance that I think is required, and that there is openness and transparency about the consideration of all financial items that are considered by the party and the scrutiny that members of the national executive committee are entitled to expect to be able to exercise.”
He continued: “This is obviously a very significant issue that commands a great deal of public attention, and I recognise that.
“But what I say is that we have had an extensive police investigation that has established serial criminality and a whole range of different actions to cover that up.”
Swinney also expressed “horror” at the revelations around Murrell’s embezzlement of party funds, saying there had been a “colossal breach of trust”.
He said: “I want to express just at the outset my dismay at the further information which has been shared with the court this morning, which of course adds to what we learned last Monday and to express my horror at the contents of the material which has been set out.
“It is clear that there has been a colossal breach of trust and a systematic series of criminal actions by Peter Murrell.
“Of course that has been delivered by him by the deceit he has perpetrated, by the falsification of information, the falsification of invoices and all of that information has been conveyed to the court this morning.
“It demonstrates exactly why this crime has been able to be perpetrated and why all of the normal safeguards that should work in these circumstances were not successful in that respect.”
Sentencing of the 61-year-old is due to take place later in June.
Court papers revealed a lengthy list of items he bought with the embezzled money, including a space telescope, DVDs, a home library ladder worth more than £900 and a coffee machine worth nearly £3232.
Murrell’s guilty plea has also led to intense scrutiny for Sturgeon, who has denied knowing of his crimes – saying she was “deceived, misled and betrayed”.
The former SNP leader said she has been “completely exonerated” after a “two-year-long, very forensic police investigation” which saw police officers search the home she and Murrell had shared.
Sturgeon was arrested and questioned as part of the police investigation into the SNP’s finances, which was known as Operation Branchform, but Police Scotland confirmed she would face no action.
At the weekend, the former first minister told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme she feels like she is “serving a sentence for a crime I did not commit”.
Murrell’s guilty plea has also led to calls for an independent investigation into the SNP’s finances.
Former Labour first minister Jack McConnell has said a joint inquiry by both Holyrood and Westminster committees should examine Murrell’s embezzlement.
Shadow Scottish secretary Andrew Bowie has called on Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee to initiate an inquiry.
However, Swinney has said there is no need for such an inquiry, emphasising the detailed nature of the police investigation.
He told the Press Association last week: “The police investigation has led to a criminal case.
“There has been a prosecution and there has been a guilty plea and there will be sentencing taking place as a consequence.
“So, all these issues have been looked at.
“We know what the problem was – the problem was criminal behaviour and the police have identified that and the individual involved has been prosecuted.”
