John Swinney was under pressure last night to explain if Peter Murrell had embezzled cash from the taxpayer as well as from SNP members as the full extent of the former CEO’s fraud was revealed.
Prosecutors told the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday that Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband went on a 12-year spending spree funded “principally from membership fees and donations paid by party members and other donors, and legacies”.
Murrell, who served as SNP chief executive for more than 20 years, was back in court for a 30-minute hearing where judge Lord Young was provided with more detail on the scale of the £400,000 embezzlement and the efforts made to cover it up.
The court was told Murrell’s role meant that he was “effectively in charge” of the administrative side of the party and had privileged access to the SNP’s internal accounting and expenses systems.
He used false invoices, SNP charge and credit cards and fake expenses claims to make a string of purchases of luxury items over a 12-year period.
Prosecutor Alex Cameron KC told the court: “In his role as CEO the accused was able to make direct transfers of money from that bank account.
“He also had a charge card linked to that account in his name for use in paying for items required by the party, as did other members of staff.
“The accused made direct transfers of money and used his party charge card and those of other staff members to make purchases which were not connected to party business; rather they were for his own use or the use of others. Those other members of staff were unaware of him using their cards for that purpose.”
Tens of millions of pounds in donations and other contributions flowed through the SNP’s accounts during the period of the offending, including public money which is given to all political parties with representation at Westminster and Holyrood.
Asked whether Murrell’s spending came principally – but not exclusively – from donors, and whether public money could have been used, Swinney told reporters at the Scottish Parliament:
He added: “The only public money that would have conceivably gone through (the SNP’s main bank account) could be the policy development grant from the Electoral Commission, which is the subject of separate auditing, and we only receive the payments from the Electoral Commission if they are satisfied with the contents of those submissions.
“There is nothing that has emerged from the police investigation that points to the fact that any of those resources were misconstrued.”
When it was pointed out that the Commission relied upon audits supplied by the SNP, and that Murrell has misled auditors, Swinney responded: “There was a separate audit carried out of the policy development grant.”
View 2 ImagesPeter Murrell in the dock at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Joanna Cherry, a KC and former SNP MP, said: “The narrative said that the money Murrell embezzled came ‘principally’ from membership fees, donations, and legacies.
“That means some of it came from elsewhere. We need to know whether any of that was public money.”
Andy Wightman, a former Scottish Greens MSP and transparency campaigner, said: “I have never encountered a CEO working in public or third sector who can draw up to £30,000 directly for their own expenses without any checks or authorisation. Maybe such a situation exists but threshold is usually much, much lower.”
The SNP leader admitted Murrell’s crimes show “there has not been, in every respect, adequate controls in place”.
Swinney said: “The systems that were in place should not have been able to be abused, but they were.”
It comes after the court was told Murrell had used party money to buy a £124,500 motorhome which he kitted out with luxury extras and top of the range toiletries.
Sturgeon’s estranged purchased the now notorious Niesmann and Bischoff motorhome to use for his own personal benefit – and not for SNP campaigning, as was previously suggested.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard how he created a fake invoice for the party’s accounting procedures in a bid to avoid detection and removed the details of the luxury extras added to the vehicle.
But police investigating him found evidence showing that he had insured the vehicle only in his name.
Judge Lord Young heard how how Murrell’s insurance policy only covered the vehicle to be driven for “social, domestic and pleasure purposes.”
It comes as the Scottish Parliament’s business group last night refused Scottish Labour’s demand for an urgent debate at Holyrood on whether a parliamentary inquiry should examine the Murrell scandal.
SNP and Green MSPs are opposed to the move.
A Scottish Labour source said: “The SNP have shut down debate in their own party and now don’t want to debate the issue in the Scottish Parliament either”.
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Murrell will be sentenced on June 23.