The Alba party has received five times more in cash donations than the Scottish Greens despite having no MSPs or councillors, it has been revealed.
The biggest donor to Alex Salmond's breakaway independence movement in the second quarter of this year was the co-owner of a firm which supplied PPE to the NHS during the pandemic.
Craig MacKenzie, a director of Continuum Scotland, made three separate personal donations totalling £50,000 to Alba in the weeks leading up to the council elections in May.
The figures, published by the Electoral Commission, show the Scottish Greens received just £9,786 in the same period.
Alba failed to return a single councillor across 32 local authorities at the election - while the environmentalists won a record 35. The SNP - which emerged with the highest number of councillors - recorded donations of £47,634 in the second quarter of this year.
The figures do not include public funds which all parties are entitled to claim while contesting elections. Continuum Scotland made headlines after being identified as one of the biggest recipients of a direct NHS contract in the UK for Covid PPE.
In 2020, it was awarded a £47 million deal for supplying Type II R face masks to NHS Wales and NHS Scotland. It chartered 15 Boeing 747 jets to fly in the order from China.
Salmond launched Alba ahead of the 2021 Holyrood elections but it has so far failed to make a breakthrough at the polls.
The Record has asked Alba and the Scottish Greens for comment.
A spokesman for the Scottish Greens said: "All over Scotland, more and more people are recognising the scale of the climate crisis and seeing the vital work that Greens are doing in their communities and in government.
"The results in May are a sign of the positive impact that Green councillors are having."
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