ANAS Sarwar has denied that police probes and criminal charges facing multiple Scottish Labour councillors amount to “his own Operation Branchform”.
Glasgow councillor Frank McAveety has been charged with electoral fraud, it emerged this week, while former city lord provost Philip Braat was charged with stalking a former partner.
Scottish Labour announced that Braat, who has pled not guilty to offences including putting up a banner in his former partner's close and writing abusive remarks on her front door, had been suspended after news of his arrest broke in December.
However, leaked internal messages uncovered by The National showed that he was still submitting apologies for missing Labour group meetings as of last month. He is also still listed as a Labour councillor on the local authority’s website.
Sarwar has been pressed by Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken to clarify whether the two politicians are still part of the party group in the council.
And in Fife, last month former Labour councillor David Graham pled not guilty at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court to allegations he groomed a teenage girl.
The 42-year-old is alleged to have communicated indecently with the teenager and coerced her to view sexual images, to have engaged in unlawful sexual activity with her and to have intentionally met her to have unlawful sexual activity. The charges allege the girl was aged 14 and 15 during the period, spanning between August 2022 and 2023.
Speaking to The National on Thursday, Sarwar clarified both Glasgow councillors have been suspended from Scottish Labour.
But asked about a build-up of cases where Labour councillors have had charges pressed against them and whether this was Scottish Labour’s “Operation Branchform”, he denied it.
Sarwar said: “They’re [McAveety and Braat] both currently suspended by the Scottish Labour Party.
"In one situation there’s an ongoing investigation in terms of the most recent one but they are both suspended.”
Asked if the build-up of cases amounted to his own “Operation Branchform”, Sarwar said they should not be compared.
He said: “I don’t want to get into legalities of cases but I think people need to be really careful if they are going to try and make comparison of accusations of misusing individuals' and members’ money for their own personal gain and what is being talked about in other investigations.
“Without getting into anything that get’s us into legal difficulty, I think people need to be careful of trying to compare the two.”
It emerged on Tuesday night that McAveety had been charged with allegedly committing electoral fraud by claiming to live in Glasgow when he lived in Paisley. Scottish Labour had not commented on the case until Sarwar spoke to the press on Thursday.
McAveety is one of the most high-profile Labour figures in the city, having previously been council leader. His time as an MSP also saw him embroiled in a string of scandals.
Graham will stand trial at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on July 15.
Operation Branchform was the name given to an investigation into the SNP's finances.
It began in 2021 and investigated what happened to around £600,000 raised by the party for a second independence referendum campaign.
The investigation has now closed with former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie cleared of any wrongdoing.
Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell appeared in court last month following a charge of embezzlement. He made no plea during a private hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and has been bailed.
