Under-pressure SNP boss Peter Murrell refused to discuss calls for his resignation amid a police fraud probe and voting transparency concerns in the party’s leadership campaign.
The party CEO, married to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, remained tight-lipped as he opened the door at his Glasgow home at 2.30pm yesterday in slippers, striped pyjama trousers and a blue T-shirt.
The last time he was seen was at the Queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey on September 19 last year.
In the face of increasing calls for him to stand down, Murrell, 58, smiled but refused to talk about any concerns. He said: “I have no comment on that.”
Last week the Sunday Mail revealed police had interviewed senior SNP members over fraud allegations only days before Sturgeon’s shock resignation.
Ex- treasurer Douglas Chapman spoke to police and other key figures were contacted over the probe into claims of £600,000 of missing ring-fenced referendum cash – code named Operation Branchform.
Murrell, originally from Edinburgh, is also facing calls for independent adjudicators to be brought in to oversee the leadership election vote between Humza Yousaf, Kate Forbes and Ash Regan.
They came after we highlighted concerns from ex- SNP health secretary Alex Neil who said the party hierarchy had a “prefered candidate”.
Murrell hasn’t been interviewed but yesterday SNP HQ insisted there would be external oversight of the election result on March 27.
A spokesman said: “An independent ballot services company has been engaged by the national secretary to administer the poll, including the issuing and receipt of postal ballot papers and the electronic count.”
The party claimed SNP officials would not have access to real time voting information.
A spokesman also admitted hundreds of members domiciled outside Scotland and the UK would be able to vote.
A party insider with knowledge of the party’s voting systems said: “There are still huge questions to answer over how this contest is going to be run and controlled.
“I’ve first hand experience of seeing information on voting for constituency candidates being given out by HQ ahead of results being formally declared. The party hierarchy has previously always had access in real time to voting information via the Mi Voice system for the duration that ballots have been open.
“This would be massively advantageous to a preferred leadership contestant if it was passed on as they would be able to target specific members who hadn’t made up their minds.
“There are also believed to be thousands of ghost members in the system – people whose memberships have lapsed – and there is a fear a vote could be wrongly allocated to a specific candidate.
“It is a shame there is this level of mistrust within the party of the senior leadership but the fact is that there are many reasons to be concerned over transparency and governance standards.” SNP leadership candidates Regan and Forbes have questioned Murrell’s position. Forbes called for fresh faces and said it would be “difficult” for him to stay. Regan said the SNP chief should stand down.
She compared his running of the leadership election to Carrie Johnson running the Tory leadership ballot when her husband Boris Johnson left office.
It emerged Murrell gave a loan of £107,620 to the party to ease “cash flow” after the last election in June 2021. Sturgeon said she “can’t recall” when she learned of the loan but said it came from Murrell’s “resources”.The loan was made months after we told of the fraud probe in April 2021.
Electoral Commission records show Murrell handed the SNP the loan on June 20, 2021, with no security against it and no fixed interest rate. The watchdog was not notified until August 11 2022.
It was also told an instalment of £26,905 was repaid on August 18, 2021, then another instalment of £20,715 on October 25, 2021.
Failing to disclose a political donation or loan can lead to sanctions from the Electoral Commission which refer it to police.
The police probe into claims of a £600,000 donation fraud began last year amid claims money had been illegally diverted from a fund to fight an independence referendum. It centres on funds raised in 2017 and 2019.
The row lead to the resignation of senior nationalists from the party’s national executive after claims Murrell had refused them permission to see party accounts. Criminal complaints are understood to have been received from at least 19 people.
Fundraising documentation said the cash would be “ringfenced” and only spent on a referendum campaign. But the SNP’s accounts showed less than £100,000 in the bank at the end of 2019, despite the fact a referendum had not been held.
Last night, police said there was no update on the probe and referred us to a statement revealed in December, which said: “A report which outlines inquiries undertaken and seeks further instruction has been submitted to the Crown Office.”
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