Angus Robertson has said he is as "concerned as anybody" about the future of the SNP amid an on-going police investigation into the party.
The veteran Nationalist claimed today it "grieves me to see the reporting and the arrests of people that I know".
Police Scotland launched Operation Branchform in 2021 to investigate how the SNP spent financial donations intended for an independence referendum campaign.
Peter Murrell, the party's former chief executive, was arrested on April 6 and questioned for several hours before released without charge.
The home he shares with his wife, Nicola Sturgeon, was also searched by officers on the same day.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland today, Roberson was asked about the crisis facing the SNP.
It comes as the party continues to struggle to find a replacement auditor after the firm it previously relied on resigned last year.
Robertson said: “Well, I'm as concerned as anybody is about their own political party. I've been a member since I was 15 or 16.
“It grieves me to see the reporting and the arrests of people that I know.
“But what I do know is that we have due and legal process in this country, and we have the presumption of innocence before guilt, not that you might get the impression of that from some of the media coverage that we've seen in recent weeks and months.
“So what I'm going to do is keep my counsel. I'm going to allow the police and prosecuting authorities to work out if any bar has been reached for any form of charges.
“And I'll reserve judgement until that point.”
Robertson also defended a secret deal that saw him paid an extra £33,000 a year while leader of the SNP’s Westminster group.
He accepted the cash while in charge of the 56 MPs returned at the 2015 general election.
The extra was based on the top-up given to a junior UK government minister at the time, which was a public figure.
Asked why he didn’t tell colleagues in the SNP at the time, he said: “I'm not in the habit of discussing my pay with other colleagues.
“And I certainly don't think that one should be creating an impression of any impropriety when there was absolutely none.”
Asked how concerned he was about the SNP’s inability to find auditors, Robertson said: “Well, these are requirements that political parties and groups at Westminster need to fulfil. So obviously, it is a challenge. And I know that colleagues are working very hard so that they can abide by the auditing rules.”
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