Former SNP leader Alex Salmond has said the Scottish government faces “day of reckoning” as he launched legal action over the handling of sexual harassment claims against him.
Mr Salmond’s lawyer confirmed that his successor as first minister Nicola Sturgeon is among named among those accused of “misfeasance”.
After his extraordinary bust-up with Ms Sturgeon during her time in charge of the SNP, Mr Salmond is thought to be seeking £3m in damages and loss of earnings.
The Court of Session confirmed on Friday that the case, Alex Salmond v Scottish ministers, had been called. The combative politician had long threatened a lawsuit.
In a statement, Mr Salmond said “the calling of the action signals that the day of reckoning for the Scottish government’s record of misfeasance on this grand scale will inevitably come”.
Humza Yousaf, current SNP leader and first minister, said on Friday that the Scottish government “will defend its position robustly – but I’ll say no more because that’s a live case”.
Mr Salmond, first minister between 2007 and 2014, was investigated by the Scottish government after two complaints from staff were made under a new complaints procedure which included former ministers.
He was subsequently cleared of 13 charges of sexual misconduct, including attempted rape, following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.
An investigation was deemed by a judicial review to have been “tainted with apparent bias” after the Scottish government conceded defeat and Mr Salmond was initially awarded £512,000 as a result.
Sturgeon has said she has no interest in reconciling with Salmond— (PA Wire)
The case put forward this week by Mr Salmond, his lawyer said, includes the “soliciting of false criminal complaints”.
It follows a protracted Holyrood inquiry into the Scottish government’s handling of the original two complaints, which called both Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon to give evidence.
During the inquiry, Mr Salmond condemned Leslie Evans, Scotland’s former top civil servant – accusing her of having a “bias” against him and calling for her resignation.
The inquiry, which worsened an already sour relationship between Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon – who had previously been close – found Ms Sturgeon misled MSPs in her evidence, but she was cleared of any breaches of the ministerial code.
Ms Evans is named along with Ms Sturgeon among those accused of “misfeasance”.
Mr Salmond said that “despite the specific findings of the parliamentary inquiry into the conduct of the former permanent secretary and the former first minister, not one single person has been held accountable”.
He added: “With this court action, that evasion of responsibility ends.”
Mr Salmond’s lawyer, Gordon Dangerfield, said the case accuses government officials of conducting themselves “improperly, in bad faith and beyond their powers, with the intention of injuring Mr Salmond”.
He said: “We aver that public officials then took part in the criminal leaking of confidential documents, the concealment of documents in defiance of court orders and a criminal warrant, the misleading of the court during judicial review proceedings, the soliciting of false criminal complaints, and ultimately the commission of perjury at a parliamentary inquiry”.
The lawyer added that the case was intended to “blow apart the Scottish government cover-up which has gone on now for far too long”.
