A furious Nicola Sturgeon ordered senior party figures to stop asking questions about the party’s finances. During an explosive party meeting, the then First Minister tried to quash questions over the missing £600,000 raised through crowdfunders for a second IndyRef.
And she dismissed concerns the party’s National Executive Committee was raising about the lack of transparency over party finances. In a recorded meeting, she said: “We don’t need to talk about the finances. The finances are absolutely fine.”
A source said: “She told the meeting that there was nothing wrong with the accounts and that people should stop talking about it because it was undermining the party. It’s fair to say she was pretty raging about it. She went on at some length telling everyone that everything was absolutely fine and that it shouldn’t be discussed.”
Sturgeon’s intervention in August 2021 came two months after her husband and SNP chief executive Peter Murrell had loaned the party more than £100,000 and three months after treasurer Douglas Chapman resigned because he was unable to properly scrutinise the books.
The revelation comes after Murrell was arrested at their home in Uddingston as part of a fraud probe into the party. He was replaced by MSP Colin Beattie who issued a statement assuring members over the concerns about finances.
Our revelations that she denied there’s anything wrong come as Sturgeon and Murrell returned to their home which was raided by police investigating alleged fraud. The former first minister said she had not been spoken to by police.
Police are investigating allegations that £600,000 of donations made to the SNP for independence campaigning was fraudulently misappropriated. They arrested former party chief executive Murrell, 58, on Wednesday and later released him without charge while searches took place at the couple’s Glasgow home and SNP HQ in Edinburgh.
The Sunday Mail can reveal the details of an NEC meeting in August 2021, when more than a dozen members looked at a report suggesting the party opened its books to be more transparent. In a recording of the meeting, Sturgeon can be heard trying to shut down concerns over finances.
Deputy Leader Keith Brown, who commissioned a report into the financial concerns in 2021, is expected to be questioned by police. Former Justice Secretary Brown wrote in the final report that the party treasurer should be given a “monthly written summary of income and expenditure, confirmed via the bank account” and recommended “some processes that have developed in an ad hoc way within the party be set on a more formal footing.”
These were among suggestions being discussed by NEC members before they were put to the party conference for approval. One observer said they had never seen anything like the meeting which took place over a Zoom call due to the pandemic. They said SNP HQ requested the session be recorded but only when discussing financial concerns and recommendations in the governance review.
Another attendee said: “The recommendations made were supposed to be discussed by the NEC and the reason for the recording was to allow SNP HQ staff to write up the discussion, to make it easier to see what we had said about every point in the report and then decide what to put forward for approval.
“When the next NEC meeting took place two months later, we were told there hadn’t been enough time to review the recording, so the recommendations wouldn’t be going forward.”
An SNP source claimed: “There was a group of very senior figures at the top of the party who ignored these recommendations. Among them were Peter Murrell, chief operating officer Sue Ruddick and compliance officer Ian McCann.”
Police have now turned the focus of their SNP fraud probe on the group who carried out the review, with several members being questioned in the last six weeks.
An SNP spokesman said: “The SNP ruling body, the NEC, has agreed to a review of governance and transparency. That is already underway.” Brown was unable to comment.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
