PRIME Minister Keir Starmer has said there are “questions that need to be answered” by the SNP leadership after the party’s former chief executive pleaded guilty to embezzling around £400,000 from the party.
On Monday, Peter Murrell – the estranged husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon – admitted committing the crimes over a period of 12 years. Sturgeon denied any knowledge or involvement, saying she had not even been aware of some of the purchases, such as the now-notorious campervan.
First Minister John Swinney, who was SNP leader when Murrell first became party chief executive in 2001 and also served as Sturgeon’s deputy first minister for nine years, said he had “never suspected” money was being embezzled and called it an “overwhelming betrayal”.
He said “sorry to the people who are affected” by Murrell’s crimes, adding that the money had been “stolen” from the party and accusing the former chief executive of “whole-scale deception”.
On Tuesday, Starmer was asked if he believed Swinney had questions to answer.
The Labour leader responded: “Well, I think anybody looking at what’s happening up in Scotland will be baffled that those at the top of the SNP say they didn’t know anything about what was going on, so clearly there are questions that need to be answered.”
Joanna Cherry, a former SNP MP, on Tuesday suggested that Sturgeon had a “remarkable lack of curiosity” over SNP finances.
She told the BBC: “I would like to see a properly independent inquiry into how this was allowed to happen and in particular why the efforts of those of us who were elected to get to the bottom of the party’s governance and financial mismanagement were frustrated from doing so.”
Murrell, 61, pleaded guilty on Monday to embezzling a total of £400,310.65 from the SNP between August 2010 and October 2022.
The cash was used to buy a range of items, including a motorhome, various luxury goods and two cars. Other purchases included designer kitchenware, multiple pairs of shoes, expensive pens and a £1200 space telescope.
Sturgeon has stated she had “no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever that personal items had been purchased using SNP funds”.
In a statement released through lawyer Aamer Anwar, the former first minister said she and Murrell had had separate bank accounts, and she had no access to his financial records.
“In relation to many of the items in question, for example expensive watches and games consoles, I was not aware of them having been purchased at all,” she said.
Sturgeon claimed she was “not aware” of the existence of a campervan purchased with party funds in 2021 until two years later when “it featured in the police investigation in early 2023”.
Adding that she and Murrell were “both earning high salaries”, Sturgeon said: “In respect of any items I was aware of Peter having purchased, I had no reason to doubt that he had used his own money.”
She also stressed she was “cleared of any wrongdoing after a lengthy and thorough investigation” by Police Scotland.
Cherry said: “Nicola Sturgeon is very keen to paint herself as the victim here and to underline she is not guilty of any criminality.
“But what she is guilty of is a remarkable lack of curiosity and deliberate frustration of the attempts of those of us who were curious.”
The Scottish Conservatives cast doubts on Sturgeon’s claims, with leader Russell Findlay saying: “You would need to be a particularly gullible member of Nicola Sturgeon’s fan club to swallow her preposterous protestations of ignorance about her husband’s criminal racket.”
