“Nicola has consistently said she would co-operate with the investigation if asked and continues to do so.”<\/p>\n
Scotland’s former first minister is the\u00a0latest high-profile figure in the party to be detained<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0as part of Police Scotland’s Operation Branchform into the whereabouts of \u00a3600,000 of funding that had been earmarked for a second independence vote.<\/p>\n It is understood there have been complaints the ringfenced cash may have been used improperly by being spent elsewhere.<\/p>\n Her arrest comes on the back of the detentions of\u00a0party treasurer Colin Beattie<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and former party chief executive\u00a0Peter Murrell\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>– also Ms Sturgeon’s husband – who were both subsequently released without charge.<\/p>\n Police previously searched the SNP headquarters and Ms Sturgeon and Mr Murrell’s home as part of the investigation.<\/p>\n A luxury \u00a3100,000 motorhome was also seized from outside the home of Mr Murrell’s mother in Dunfermline, Fife.<\/p>\n The SNP has said it has been “cooperating fully” with the investigation and would “continue to do so”.<\/p>\n Ms Sturgeon’s arrest will intensify the scandal that has engulfed Scotland’s largest political party just months after she\u00a0stood down as party leader and first minister in February.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n At the time, Ms Sturgeon said she was quitting because the job “takes its toll on you and all around you”.<\/p>\n She said she believed part of “serving well would be to know almost instinctively when the time is right” to step down, adding: “In my head and in my heart I know that time is now, that it is right for me and my party and for the country.”<\/p>\n But months later, Mr Murrell was arrested – creating a sense of turmoil that has overshadowed the new leadership of Humza Yousaf,\u00a0who was elected to replace Ms Sturgeon in a bitter and divisive leadership race<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in March.<\/p>\n Mr Yousaf previously said he was\u00a0unaware the SNP owned a \u00a3100,000 motorhome<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0until he became party leader.<\/p>\n He also admitted that he was unaware that the SNP’s longstanding auditors, Johnston Carmichael, had quit in September 2022 following a review of their client portfolio until he became party leader.<\/p>\n The party had been\u00a0under pressure to find new auditors<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in order to file its accounts with the Electoral Commission by 7 July or risk being fined.<\/p>\n Last month Mr Yousaf confirmed the\u00a0SNP had signed a contract with a new auditor<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0more than half a year after the previous firm quit.<\/p>\n Labour’s Shadow Scotland Secretary Ian Murray said the arrest was a “deeply concerning development”.<\/p>\n “The Police Scotland investigation must be allowed to proceed without interference.<\/p>\n “For too long, a culture of secrecy and cover-up has been allowed to fester at the heart of the SNP.<\/p>\n “The same culture that leads to police tents in front gardens created the deeply dysfunctional government that is currently failing Scots.<\/p>\n “Humza Yousaf must urgently come clean on what he knows – the people of Scotland deserve answers.”<\/p>\n Source: \u00a0![\"Sky](\"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/sky-news-logo-1.png\"){kind=logo}
<\/a> news.sky.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"