THE number of police officers working on the ongoing investigation into the SNP’s finances has been revealed.
The Daily Record reports that 11 officers are working on the probe with the figures obtained under freedom of information (FOI) legislation.
Operation Branchform was first launched in 2021 following complaints over how more than £600,000 of indyref2 donations were spent.
So far, former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie have been arrested and released without charge.
Sturgeon’s husband and the SNP’s former chief executive Peter Murrell was charged in April this year in connection with alleged embezzlement of SNP funds.
Police enquiries remain ongoing with an FOI release from November 18 stating: “I can advise that currently a total of 11 police officers are allocated to this investigation.”
It comes after Sturgeon spoke about the investigation earlier this week, saying she had not heard anything further in relation to Operation Branchform.
She said: “I know nothing more than I did back then and I can’t comment on it anyway. I am just getting on with my life as best I can at the moment.”
After she was released without charge last year, the former first minister said it was “beyond doubt” that she was “innocent of any wrongdoing”.
Other figures previously published revealed the estimated staff costs for Operation Branchform stand at more than £1.7 million while police overtime is £95,425.
A spokesperson for Police Scotland told the Record: “On August 9 2024, we presented the findings of the investigation so far to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and we await their direction on what further action should be taken.”
The National has turned comments off on this story due to the live police investigation. You can find out more on the legal reasoning behind that here.
