OPERATION Branchform is the official name the police have given to the probe into the SNP’s finances.
The investigation has rumbled on for multiple years and seen arrests made and charges brought. However, it has also proved controversial – with one SNP MSP branding it a “farce”.
Read on for all the latest news and updates on Operation Branchform.
The latest headlines linked to Operation Branchform:
October 5: Operation Branchform 'cannot go on indefinitely' says defence lawyer
September 5: Crown Office handed report on SNP Branchform investigation
August 22: Branchform complainant urges police to finish SNP probe over election fears
When did Operation Branchform begin?
The police investigation into the SNP’s finances, Operation Branchform, began after activist Sean Clerkin put in a complaint about the party in March 2021. That in turn came after the Wings Over Scotland blog, run by Stuart Campbell, raised questions about the SNP’s accounts in October 2020.
From 2017 to 2019, the SNP had raised some £667,000 to fight a second independence referendum. The money was “ringfenced” for that campaign, the SNP insisted, but there were suggestions it had been spent elsewhere.
Police officially launched Operation Branchform in July 2021.
Has Operation Branchform concluded?
At the time of writing, Operation Branchform is still ongoing, according to Jo Farrell, the Chief Constable of Police Scotland.
Police have been probing the SNP finances for more than three years.
Scottish criminal defence lawyer Thomas Leonard Ross KC said in October 2024 that the “clock is running” and the inquiry “cannot go on indefinitely”.
Clerkin, the activist who made the original complaint, has also called for Operation Branchform to be concluded before the 2026 Holyrood elections.
Who has been arrested amid Operation Branchform?
Three people have been arrested amid Operation Branchform.
First, former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell was arrested, questioned, and released without charge in April 2023.
That same month, then-SNP treasurer Colin Beattie, the MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, was also arrested, questioned, and released without charge. Beattie resigned his role as treasurer the day after his arrest.
Murrell, Sturgeon’s husband, was then arrested again in April 2024. On Thursday, April 18, 2024, Murrell was charged “in connection with the embezzlement of funds from the Scottish National Party”.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service would later confirm that police probes into Sturgeon and Beattie remained ongoing.
How much has been spent on Operation Branchform?
As The National reported in February 2024, a Freedom of Information request put in with Police Scotland revealed that more than £1.3 million had been spent on Operation Branchform.
Estimates from the police also revealed staffing for Operation Branchform.
The force said that, as of January 20, 2024, the team engaged in the SNP investigation consists of one detective chief inspector, one detective inspector, three detective sergeants, 10 detective constables, and five support staff. Staffing levels from February and August 2023 show one further detective sergeant was engaged on the case until around November 2023.
