THE First Minister is expected to meet with Colin Beattie, the SNP treasurer who was arrested in a probe into the party’s finances, his top lieutenant has said.
It is not yet known when the meeting will take place but Beattie missed a session of the Holyrood economy committee on Wednesday morning.
Beattie was questioned by police the previous day and subsequently released without charge.
On a ministerial visit in Glasgow on Wednesday, deputy first minister Shona Robison told the media Humza Yousaf would meeting with Beattie.
Robison said: “I’m assuming the First Minister will be speaking with Colin Beattie today and we’ll need to see what emerges from those meetings but I think the First Minister made himself quite clear.
“I’ve not had any discussions with the First Minister on those matters. I mean, Colin Beattie has been released without charge and I think we have to remember that, so I’ve not discussed this with the First Minister at all.
“Obviously we’ve been discussing other matters, not least the policy prospectus which was announced yesterday. But I’m sure the First Minister will be speaking with Colin Beattie today.”
Asked about Beattie’s membership of two Holyrood committees, including one tasked with scrutinising government spending, Robison said she expected Yousaf to discuss this with the SNP MSP.
She added: “I’ve always found Colin Beattie to be a man of integrity and he will want to reflect on all of those matters and I am sure he will discuss those matters with the First Minister.”
The Scottish Tories have said the SNP set a precedent for members under criminal investigation – regardless of the outcome of those probes – by suspending Michelle Thomson and Natalie McGarry in the past.
But Robison said Yousaf believed people were “innocent until proven otherwise” and that he had not been in charge of the party when McGarry and Thomson were booted from the SNP under its previous leadership.
