News
Police submit SNP financial report to prosecutors
Peter Murrell was arrested in April last year as part of Operation Branchform
Detectives have sent a report to the Scottish Public Prosecution Service in relation to Peter Murrell after the former SNP chief executive was accused of embezzling party funds.
The force said in a statement that it had submitted a “standard prosecution report” to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).
Police Scotland added: “Enquiries are continuing and we are unable to comment further.”
Murrell is the husband of Nicola Sturgeon, former First Minister of Scotland.
The Crown Office will now decide whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute Mr Murrell.
It will also decide whether it believes a prosecution would be in the public interest.
Branchform: What’s happening with the investigation into the SNP’s finances?
Murrell was arrested on April 5, 2023 and later released without charge pending further investigation.
Almost two weeks later, SNP treasurer Colin Beattie was arrested and released pending further inquiries. He later stepped down as treasurer.
Sturgeon was arrested on June 11, 2023, and was questioned by officers for more than seven hours at a police station, before she was also released without charge while further investigations were carried out.
On April 18 this year, Mr Murrell was detained by police again. This time he was accused of embezzlement.
In criminal law, the main difference between embezzlement and theft is that the accused was trusted to handle the money or property in question.
It often also involves an allegation that the accused exceeded his authority.
In a statement, COPFS said the police report concerned incidents that allegedly occurred between 2016 and 2023.
It added that investigations into Mr Beattie and Ms Sturgeon remain ongoing.
Nicola Sturgeon was arrested and released without charge in June 2023
Sturgeon denied that her decision to resign as First Minister and leader of the SNP in March last year was influenced by the police investigation.
She said she would cooperate fully with the investigation and did nothing wrong.
Police Scotland’s Operation Branchform spent more than two years investigating what happened to £660,000 in donations made to the SNP by independence campaigners.
On the day of Murrell’s arrest, officers searched the home he shares with Sturgeon in Glasgow.
The SNP headquarters in Edinburgh were searched on the same day and a luxury motorhome valued at around £110,000 was also seized by police outside Mr Murrell’s mother’s home in Dunfermline.