Nicola Sturgeon has defended her reported decision to give “no comment” answers to the police during her arrest.
In a statement issued by solicitor Aamer Anwar on behalf of the former Scottish first minister, he said the answer was standard legal advice. He rejected claims that the move hindered the investigation into SNP finances.
He said her position was “no different” to that set out on Monday around the criminal conduct of her estranged husband, former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, who admitted on Monday to embezzling more than £400,000.
“In relation to the advice tendered to Ms Sturgeon to make no comment, this was by her solicitor, formerly a very senior crown counsel at Crown Office,” the lawyer said.
View 3 ImagesThe pair were once seen as Scotland’s most influential power couple(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
He said Ms Sturgeon said a “no comment” response was “standard advice offered on a regular basis in our jurisdiction” and that it was “deeply worrying” that Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay described her “right to silence” as a “tactic of organised crime”.
Mr Anwar said Ms Sturgeon later insisted on providing a “detailed written response” to Police Scotland questions.
“The idea that a highly resourced inquiry was hampered by a no comment interview is nonsensical,” he said. “Had there been any evidence whatsoever of criminality against Ms Sturgeon, there can be no doubt that this gold-plated investigation would have led to Ms Sturgeon being charged and prosecuted.
“To make it abundantly clear it was not the role of the First Minister to sign off accounts that was for the party treasurer.
View 3 ImagesPolice outside the home of former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and now estranged husband Peter Murrell on April 06, 2023 in Glasgow(Image: Getty)
“There appears to be an assumption that as FM, when Mr Murrell was busy buying multiple pens or pepper pots etc she was with him, Ms Sturgeon was not as unsurprisingly she was busy with other matters.”
Murrell, 61, was convicted at the High Court in Edinburgh on Monday, May 25. It is anticipated that he will receive a substantial prison sentence after he faced charges of embezzling hundreds of thousands of pounds from the SNP between August 2010 and January 2023.
He admitted using the party’s money to buy items including a motorhome and luxury goods, and towards the purchase of two cars.
The indictment included allegations that in 2020 Murrell used party funds to buy a £124,550 motorhome for his own personal use, and that he falsified accounting records in an effort to cover up his wrongdoing.
Sturgeon has denied all knowledge of the 10-year spending spree undertaken by her estranged husband.
Earlier, Sturgeon said she was “utterly appalled” that her former husband had used the party’s money for personal purposes. She accepted there would be a “political discussion in the light of what has happened” but the former First Minister said that for her this “has also been a profound personal trauma”.
Article continues below
Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources. Click HERE