The SNP's former treasurer was reportedly not arrested on the same day that Nicola Sturgeon's home was raided because he was on holiday in Italy.
Police officers investigating the party's finances went to Colin Beattie's home in Dalkeith on April 5 but he was in Tuscany during the Scottish Parliament's Easter recess.
The attempted arrest of Beattie was planned for the same day as that of Nicola Sturgeon's husband and former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell.
Police also raided Murrell and Sturgeon's house, searched the party's headquarters in Edinburgh and seized a campervan from Murrell's mother's home in Dunfermline on the same day.
Beattie, who is MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, was arrested 13 days later as it was definite that he would be in the country because the Scottish Parliament returned from recess.
Both Beattie and Murrell were released without charged pending further inquiries.
The Times reported that Beattie was informed of the earlier attempted arrest when he was being questioned by police.
Beattie's arrest overshadowed Humza Yousaf's first major speech after becoming First Minister and some claimed that it was politically motivated.
Beattie quit as SNP treasurer a fortnight after he was arrested. He held the role between 2004 and 2020 but was beaten by Douglas Chapman in the party's internal elections in October 2020.
Chapman quit after just six months in the role. The MP claimed at the time he "had not received the support or financial information required to carry out the fiduciary duties of National Treasurer."
Beattie took the reins again after Chapman's resignation.
The arrests of Murrell and Beattie were part of an investigation into the SNP's finances. The investigation is codenamed Operation Branchform and is looking into claims of £600,000 of missing ring-fenced referendum cash.
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