Police interviewed senior SNP members over fraud allegations days before Nicola Sturgeon’s shock resignation.
Former treasurer Douglas Chapman spoke to detectives and other key figures were contacted in connection with the probe into claims of £600,000 of missing ring-fenced referendum cash – codenamed Operation Branchform.
Chief executive Peter Murrell, who is married to the First Minister, has yet to be contacted.
Our revelations come amid demands for independent adjudicators to be brought in to oversee the SNP leadership election process, over which Murrell is understood to have almost complete control.
A source said: “Douglas Chapman spoke to police in the days before the First Minister caught everyone out with her resignation announcement.
“Several other former officials from the party’s governing body were contacted around the same time. The investigation seems
to be homing in on a number of specific transactions so this is clearly a live investigation which is gathering pace.
“We don’t know whether Murrell or Sturgeon have been interviewed but it seems inconceivable that the chief executive would not be contacted at some point.
“He is the only person who had complete oversight and control over all aspects of accounts, how any money was spent and, ultimately, all key decisions. Whether or not this investigation played any part in the FM’s decision to announce her resignation when she did, we may never know.
“It was something that was going to happen but everyone, including her most senior ministers, were caught out by the timing.”
Dunfermline and West Fife MP Chapman resigned as treasurer of the party in May 2021, claiming he had “not received the support of financial information” and is understood to have been interviewed as a potential witness.
Several other officials also resigned amid claims Murrell refused to give access to the accounts and are believed to be among others contacted by police in recent weeks.
It’s since emerged Murrell gave a loan of £107,620 to the party to help it out with a “cash flow” issue after the last election in June 2021.
Sturgeon has said she “can’t recall” when she learned of the loan but said it came from Murrell’s own “resources”.
The loan was made just months after the Sunday Mail first revealed the fraud investigation in April 2021.
Electoral Commission records show Murrell handed the SNP the loan on June 20, 2021, with no security against it and no fixed interest rate. The watchdog was not notified until August 11, 2022.
It was also told an instalment of £26,905 was repaid on August 18, 2021, followed by a further instalment of £20,715 on October 25, 2021.
Failing to disclose a political donation or loan can result in sanctions from the Electoral Commission, which may also decide to refer the matter to police.
Meanwhile, former SNP health secretary Alex Neil has demanded independent adjudicators are brought in to oversee the leadership battle between Humza Yousaf, Kate Forbes and Ash Regan.
He said: “I think we need to have independent oversight of this election process. We aren’t just electing a party leader here. The winner will immediately also become Scotland’s first minister – so there needs to be absolute confidence in the process.
“Ideally it would be the Electoral Commission which would take on this job or a body like that.
“We need to be sure, for example, that the electronic process through which SNP members will be voting is secure and not open to abuse by foreign powers.
"It is not really acceptable that the SNP chief executive should be playing such a central role. I am not accusing anyone of anything but it is clear the party hierarchy have a preferred candidate.”
It is understood that Murrell will have access in real time to how members are voting from the moment the polls open at midday on March 13 and close at midday on March 27.
The SNP has said its national secretary will make the results of the contest public as soon as the result has been determined and after the candidates have been advised.
A source said: “It is clear the party’s hierarchy favour Humza Yousaf. As chief executive, Peter Murrell will have real time access to voting. It is information that would be extremely useful to any one candidate.
“Everyone should have this information or nobody should have it, that is why independent adjudication is essential.”
The Police Scotland probe into allegations of a £600,000 donation fraud was launched last year after it was claimed money had been illegally diverted from a “ringfenced” fund to fight an independence referendum. It centres on funds raised in 2017 and 2019.
The row sparked the resignation of several senior nationalists from the party’s ruling national executive committee after claims Murrell had refused them permission to see party accounts.
Criminal complaints are understood to have been received from at least 19 people.
Edinburgh South MP Joanna Cherry said she was standing down from the NEC over “transparency and scrutiny concerns”. Three other members resigned from the party’s finance and audit committee.
The Scottish Conservatives said: “The SNP have been circling the wagons on this money for almost three years.
“Now a police investigation is in full swing, we have to hope that answers will come out and fast.”
Fundraising documentation said the cash would be “ring-fenced” and only spent on a referendum campaign. However, the SNP’s accounts showed less than £100,000 in the bank at the end of 2019, despite the fact a referendum had not been held.
Police Scotland said: “A report which outlines inquiries already undertaken and seeks further instruction has been submitted to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.”
The Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain, as law officer of the government, has stepped aside and it is understood that Crown agent John Logue is overseeing the case.
The Crown Office said: “COPFS will continue to work with police in this ongoing investigation.”
The SNP said: “We are cooperating fully with the investigation.”
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