John Swinney has apologised to SNP members after former chief executive Peter Murrell admitted embezzling hundreds of thousands of pounds from the party.
Mr Swinney, who was last week formally re-elected as Scotland’s First Minister, said the “level of personal horror” he felt over Murrell’s crimes was “difficult for me to properly convey”.
Describing it as being a “tough day” for the party, Mr Swinney said bluntly: “I am gutted by this today.”
His comments came as he said “sorry to the people who are affected” by Murrell’s crimes, saying that the money had been “stolen” from the party and accusing the former chief executive of “whole scale deception”.
“It is the conduct of Peter Murrell that has got us into that position,” the First Minister stressed, making clear the former chief executive was “exclusively responsible” for what had happened.
Mr Swinney said he “never suspected” Murrell had been embezzling the cash, saying he had “no idea” why a campervan had been purchased, supposedly by the party.
But he was clear that the SNP had been “badly, badly, badly let down” by its former chief executive.
Speaking at a press conference in Edinburgh just hours after the estranged husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon pleaded guilty to embezzling £400,310.65, the First Minister said his thoughts were with his party’s members.
Mr Swinney said that Murrell’s guilty plea “confirms that the Scottish National Party has been the victim of embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of pounds of funds, provided by SNP members”.
He added: “This is an admission of a terrible breach of trust and an overwhelming betrayal by the man entrusted to be the party’s chief executive”.
Saying he shared the “overwhelming anger felt by SNP members”, the First Minister told journalists: “What I am thinking about, I’ve not been able to stop thinking about, is the decent people who have stood with me at coffee mornings and jumble sales, raising the money, paying their money to party headquarters.
“People who I know don’t have much money to rub together, but have paid their membership subs to keep the SNP afloat because they believe in independence.”
The First Minister said he felt “absolutely the same agony” those members of the party would be feeling.
Mr Swinney insisted: “By embezzling from the SNP, Peter Murrell was stealing the hopes, the dreams, and the aspirations of thousands of people all over Scotland, people who gave what they could over many years in the hope that it would help contribute to a better country.
“So today I am horrified, I am betrayed.”
The First Minister continued: “Somebody entrusted with a leading position within the party should not have embezzled party funds, it just should not have happened.
“Peter should have known this was the wrong thing to do.”
While he said he was both “horrified” and “betrayed” by Murrell’s actions, the SNP leader insisted he was also “resolute about the future”.
He recalled how he had become SNP leader two years ago because the party was “not in the best place”.
He added: “I promised that we would get back on track. A key part of that has been the process to strengthen our governance structures and our party finances.
“That has been an ongoing process over a number of years, the party now has a modernised backroom operation which, as we saw in the election result, is highly effective in supporting campaigning around the country.”
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