POLICE Scotland’s outgoing chief constable has denied Nicola Sturgeon was tipped off about the arrest of her husband, describing the suggestion as “absolutely outrageous”.
Sir Iain Livingstone, who is set to retire this summer, told STV his officers had acted with “total integrity” during the investigation into the SNP’s finances.
Among those who raised questions was former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars, who urged Police Scotland to say if the former first minister had been told her husband Peter Murrell may be arrested.
Speaking in April he said: "I have already had people saying to me 'what was the timeline' between Nicola Sturgeon knowing there may be a problem in respect of her husband with the police and her resignation.
“That is a question people are quite legitimately asking.”
But Livingstone said nobody in his force had informed the Scottish Government that Murrell was about to be taken into custody.
He said: “Categorically not, absolutely outrageous suggestion to imply that I or my investigative team act with anything other than total integrity,” he said.
Livingstone also told STV's Scotland Tonight that there had been no enquiries from Sturgeon’s office to about the status of the police investigation.
He said: “Absolutely not, I don’t think they would.
“Now, people may feel I could have done other things as the chief constable, that I could have done more of this, less of that, but I don’t think any senior politician, or anybody who has observed policing in the last number of years in Scotland, would think that I am anything other than totally operationally independent – and I guard that rigorously.”
Previously Livingstone defended the decision to raid the home of Sturgeon and Murrell and erect a large tent placed across the entrance as “proportionate and necessary.”
In an interview earlier this month he denied the move was politically motivated, saying the search warrant was independently approved by a judge.
