SNP leader Humza Yousaf is facing calls to suspend his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon following claims police are investigating attempts to shut down scrutiny of party finances.
Ms Sturgeon blocked plans to hire a fundraising manager for the party when she was leader and first minister despite concerns about transparency, leaked emails appeared to show.
Police Scotland detectives investigating the party’s finances have been handed emails showing Ms Sturgeon quashed the idea of a fundraising manager in June 2021, according to Scotland’s Sunday Mail.
The newspaper also published a video in which Ms Sturgeon told the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) that there were no problems with the accounts, despite concerns.
Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, said Mr Yousaf should suspend both Ms Sturgeon and her husband Peter Murrell while police inquiries continue.
“This bombshell revelation goes to show just how central Nicola Sturgeon was to the secrecy and culture of cover-up that festered within the SNP,” said Ms Baillie.
“She has big questions to answer over her actions and Humza Yousaf must consider suspending her party membership and that of her husband, former chief executive Peter Murrell, until the investigation has been concluded.”
Extracts from leaked emails appeared to show that a suggestion to hire a fundraising manager was rejected by Ms Sturgeon, with those carrying out a review ordered to remove the idea from their final report.
The leaked footage from an SNP NEC meeting in March 2021 showed Ms Sturgeon giving her top officials a stern warning to be “very careful” about suggesting there was “any problems” with party accounts.
She said: “Just be very careful about suggestions that there are problems with the party’s finances … There are no reasons for people to be concerned about the party’s finances, and all of us need to be careful about not suggesting that there is.”
The latest revelations follow the shock arrest of Ms Sturgeon’s husband and the search of the couple’s Lanarkshire home during a police raid. Mr Murrell was later released without charge, as police continue to investigate the party’s finances.
The probe into £660,000 raised specifically for Scottish independence campaigning was launched after it was alleged money had been diverted from a “ring-fenced” fund, sparking the exit of several senior people from the SNP.
Mr Yousaf has denied the SNP faces bankruptcy this weekend as he confirmed forensic auditors could be appointed following a meeting of the party’s ruling body.
The Sunday Times reported that the party’s treasurer Colin Beattie told the SNP’s NEC meeting on Saturday it is “having difficulty in balancing the books due to the reduction in membership and donors”.
But the recently-elected SNP leader told reporters: “We’re not close to bankruptcy. This is something I’ve read in some social media circles but, no, the party is solvent.”
Mr Yousaf said the party is “desperate” to appoint new auditors. Last week it emerged he was unaware before becoming leader that the previous auditors resigned more than six months ago.
The SNP leader also said he was not aware about the purchase of a camper van by the party, seized by police, after he became first minister last month.
SNP MP Joanna Cherry, who resigned from the NEC when the fundraising row first emerged, said she had “never seen business conducted in such an inadequate way as it is on the SNP NEC” – saying its business had been conducted in a “menacing atmosphere”.
But the SNP’s former Westminster leader Ian Blackford said on Sunday that the party’s finances are in “robust health” following claims its ruling body was told it is struggling financially.
Mr Blackford told BBC Radio Scotland: “Absolutely, categorically, the SNP is solvent, the finances are in balance. We will be able to meet our obligations, our liabilities going forward. Everybody knows there has been a dip in SNP membership.”
An SNP spokesperson said: “Yesterday, the SNP National Executive Committee agreed to a series of proposals to increase transparency in the SNP. It is the case that the SNP accounts are published annually and are in order.”
The Independent has contacted Police Scotland for comment.
