It is an incredibly difficult time, says Sturgeon as husband charged
NICOLA sturgeon broke cover yesterday after her husband was charged over the alleged embezzlement of SNP funds.
The former scottish first minister spoke outside her Glasgow home after Peter Murrell, 59, was rearrested on Thursday as part of a longrunning police investigation before being formally charged that night.
Mr Murrell, a former SNP chief executive, has resigned his party membership.
Ms sturgeon, 53, told reporters: ‘This is a difficult time. I don’t think I’m revealing any secrets in saying that. But there’s absolutely nothing I can say given the circumstances.’
asked how difficult the situation is for her personally, the MSP replied: ‘It’s incredibly difficult, but that’s not the main issue here.’ Earlier, her successor as first minister, Humza Yousaf, said scottish politics had been ‘shocked’ by developments and it was a ‘serious’ matter.
Mr Yousaf said he first became aware of developments late on Thursday. ‘Many people in the SNP, right across scottish politics will be shocked by the news and this is an ongoing investigation... It’s an allegation of embezzlement from the party... That’s really serious indeed.’
Scottish Conservatives chairman Craig Hoy has urged SNP to ‘ fully cooperate’ with the investigation.
He said: ‘The SNP must commit to being fully open and transparent in this critical phase.’
Mr Murrell was charged as part of Operation Branchform, which was investigating £ 600,000 of ‘missing’ donations handed over for independence campaigning.
Police officers last year made a very public search of the sturgeon family home in Glasgow and the nationalist party’s Edinburgh headquarters.
As part of the investigation, police also seized a luxury £ 110,000 motorhome parked in the driveway of Mr Murrell’s mother’s home.
Ms sturgeon, who resigned as first minister and SNP leader in February 2023, was arrested two months after her husband, while the former party treasurer, Colin Beattie, was also arrested.
Both Ms sturgeon and Mr Beattie were released without charge pending further investigation. she has denied any wrongdoing.
Operation Branchform, launched in May 2021, is focused on how money raised in 2017 and 2019 as part of a ‘referendum appeal’ has been used.
Concern was first raised when sNP accounts showed less than £100,000 in the bank in 2019, despite £600,000 being donated to an appeal for a renewed referendum push, sparking at least 19 criminal complaints.