SCOTTISH Labour are set to force a vote on whether the Scottish Parliament should hold an inquiry into the Peter Murrell embezzlement scandal.
The former SNP chief executive pleaded guilty last month to embezzling more than £400,000 from the party and further details of his crimes have since been revealed in court.
Sentencing of the 61-year-old, who is former first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband, is due to take place later in June.
Scottish Labour have now confirmed they will lodge a motion on Wednesday calling for a Scottish parliamentary inquiry into the scandal which MSPs will vote on.
John Swinney has so far batted away calls for an inquiry stressing the SNP have rebuilt trust with voters and there is no higher standard of investigation than that undertaken by the police.
But Labour have claimed this is “a matter of trust and integrity” and have questioned why Swinney "wants to avoid this scrutiny".
Scottish Labour depute leader Jackie Baillie said: “Questions are piling up about the circumstances surrounding Peter Murrell’s crime spree and with public money potentially misused, John Swinney’s ‘nothing to see here’ act is becoming increasingly untenable.
“This is a matter of trust and integrity in politics and public life.
“If John Swinney has nothing to hide, he should welcome the chance to get answers on this sordid affair – but for some reason he is determined to try and dodge scrutiny.
“The SNP should have led the way setting up this inquiry, but instead it falls to Parliament to demand the truth.
“Scotland deserves answers and I hope on Wednesday MSPs across the chamber will back transparency over cover-up by voting for Scottish Labour’s motion.”
Former SNP Westminster frontbencher Joanna Cherry KC has also demanded an “independent investigation into what occurred”, as she insisted there is a “wider public interest here that goes beyond the SNP”. Former cabinet secretary Alex Neil has additionally said there “absolutely” should be an investigation.
In a letter to party leaders, Baillie said that as Swinney appointed Murrell as chief executive in 2001, he has a “moral duty to reflect on the crimes” he was “enabled to perpetrate”.
There have also been calls for a Westminster inquiry into the saga but SNP Westminster leader Dave Doogan, who sits on the Scottish Affairs Committee, said in a statement it would set a “dangerous precedent” and an "unprecedented abuse of the House of Commons committee system".
SNP MSP Stephen Flynn also said people in Scotland would take a “dim view” of Westminster interfering in the internal matters of a Scottish party.
