Nicola Sturgeon asked for a “little bit of privacy in my own home” as she broke her silence following the arrest of her husband Peter Murrell in a probe of SNP finances.
Speaking outside her house near Glasgow on Saturday afternoon, the former first minister said: “The last few days have been obviously difficult, quite dramatic at times, but I understand that is part of a process.”
Mr Murrell, a 58-year-old senior SNP figure, was arrested on Wednesday morning in connection with a long-running Police Scotland investigation into the spending of about £600,000 which was raised for Scottish independence campaigning.
Police continued to search the house of Mr Murrell and Ms Sturgeon after he was released without charge on Thursday.
Ms Sturgeon said there will be “full cooperation” with the police investigation, but said she could not comment on it “as much as there are things I may want to say”.
“The last few days have been obviously difficult, quite dramatic at times, but I understand that is part of a process,” she said.
“I’m also entitled to a little bit of privacy in my own home, and my neighbours I think are also entitled to a wee bit of privacy as well.
“Over the years, as a result of living next door to me, they’ve been subjected to more than their fair share of disruption and inconvenience.”
Ms Sturgeon stepped down as first minister last month, having announced her intention to resign in February after a bitter row over gender recognition reforms.
She insisted the decision was not down to “short-term pressures”, rather a belief that she was no longer the best person to lead Scotland to independence.
Speaking outside her house on Saturday, she said, despite the police investigation, “I intend to get on with life and my job as you would expect.”
Police searched the couple’s home in the Glasgow satellite town of Uddingston for more than a day, after Mr Murrell’s arrest with uniformed officers also searching the SNP’s headquarters in Edinburgh.
The former executive’s arrest was a major development in Operation Branchform, a police probe launched in July 2021 to look into potential criminality in the SNP’s fundraising.
Officers are reviewing claims around £660,000 raised since 2017 for a second independence referendum campaign was spent on other things.
Mr Murrell’s arrest was followed by news that the SNP’s auditor resigned, though reports say the firm, Johnston Carmichael, left before Wednesday.
The new SNP leader Humza Yousaf said the party was fully cooperating with the investigation.
