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DID Peter Murrell embezzle public money? That is the question that has been asked 1000 times in 1000 different ways since the former SNP chief executive admitted to misusing £400,000 in party funds at Edinburgh High Court on Monday.
The concerns are legitimate. This is a man who deceived his closest friends and allies for more than a decade – and whose hubris led him to continue his crimes even during a police investigation into his party’s finances.
There seem to be two ways in which Murrell could have got his hands on public money (rather than embezzling from SNP members). The first is grants from the Electoral Commission, and the second is the so-called “short money” given by the House of Commons to opposition parties to support their work scrutinising the UK Government.
On Thursday, the Electoral Commission issued a statement saying that they had seen “no evidence” that grants given to the SNP had been misused.
"The SNP received policy development grants as set out in law. Parties have to report on their use of the grant, and have that grant expenditure independently audited,” a spokesperson said. “The commission checks carefully that the grant is spent correctly.
"The SNP have provided those audits, we have checked them, and we have seen no evidence of misuse of policy development grant funds. If there is evidence of any misuse, the commission will take appropriate action to safeguard public money."
So, that leaves the House of Commons.
Now, the SNP Westminster group’s accounts – in which short money is counted – are filed separately to the main party’s, and face arguably even greater external scrutiny.
A House of Commons spokesperson said: “Parties claiming short money must provide the accounting officer of the House of Commons (the Clerk of the House) with an auditor’s certificate confirming that all short money they claimed was spent exclusively on supporting the party’s parliamentary business.
“In addition, parties have to provide information on staff employed and other costs funded through short money.”
They added that details of all short money allocations are published on the House of Commons website on the Financial Assistance to Opposition Parties page.
Furthermore, the rules on short money state that parties must prove that expenses have been “incurred exclusively in relation to the party’s parliamentary business, and publish accounts in relation to all such expenses, audited by an independent professional auditor, in a form determined by the House of Commons Members Estimate Committee”.
At First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, SNP leader John Swinney said that the “only issue that could apply” in relation to whether Murrell embezzled public money was the grants from the Electoral Commission, apparently ruling out that he had any access to the short money anyway.
However, none of this has stopped the politicking of the SNP’s opponents.
Westminster's Scottish Affairs Committee (SAC) is considering opening an inquiry into the SNP, with a “majority” of its MPs reportedly supporting such a probe.
On Friday, the Tories’ shadow Scottish secretary Andrew Bowie penned a letter to the committee calling for an investigation into the SNP – something which every MP involved knows is simply not within its remit.
As the SAC webpage makes clear: “The Scottish Affairs Committee scrutinises the expenditure, administration and policies of the Scotland Office, and its associated bodies. The Committee also examines the wider UK Government, to assess policies and legislation that lead to direct impacts on Scotland.”
It does not have the power to compel anything at all from the SNP, so any SAC inquiry would not be motivated by a noble desire for truth. The sole aim would be to damage political opponents.
Ironically, any such investigation would be run with taxpayer money – which shows how genuine these MPs’ concerns about misusing public cash really are.
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