SNP leader's finances are being probed The Scottish National Party is being investigated over alleged financial irregularities, according to reports
Key Highlights :
1. Police are reportedly probing claims that former first minister Nicola Sturgeon refused to open up the SNP’s finances to scrutiny.
2. According to reports, the emails outlining the former first minister’s block of the appointment of a fundraising manager stem from June 2021.
3. The newspaper suggests that the emails outline a proposal to hire a fundraising manager, made by former treasurer of the SNP, Douglas Chapman, and backed by current treasurer Colin Beattie as part of a review into transparency and governance in 2021.
4. The emails reportedly set out claims the idea was rejected by Ms Sturgeon with those doing the review were ordered to remove the suggestion from their final report by SNP deputy leader and former Justice Secretary Keith Brown.
5. In a meeting of the party’s ruling NEC in March 2021 the former first minister warns her officials to be “very careful” about suggesting there was “any problems” with the accounts.
6. In the video, Ms Sturgeon said: “The party has never been in a stronger financial position than it is right now and that’s a reflection of our strength and our membership. “I’m not going to get into the details...but, you know, just be very careful about suggestions that there are problems with the party’s finances, because we depend on donors to donate. “There are no reasons for people to be concerned about the party’s finances, and all of us need to be careful about not suggesting that there is.”
Police are reportedly probing claims that former first minister Nicola Sturgeon refused to open up the SNP’s finances to scrutiny. The allegations come from the Scottish Conservatives, who say that the SNP government refused to release detailed information on its spending and income. The SNP has denied the allegations, saying that it was happy to release information on its finances when it was requested to do so by the Scottish Parliament.
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