Nicola Sturgeon’s officials have blocked the release of a key document relating to her own controversial action during the botched sexual misconduct investigation into Alex Salmond.
The Government refused to disclose a letter sent by the First Minister to her top official about a secret contact with Mr Salmond which may have broken the ministerial code.
The Government said the letter to Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans could not be released under Freedom of Information in case it prejudiced legal proceedings against Mr Salmond, despite Ms Sturgeon having already told MSPs about its general contents.
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After the Government’s in-house probe collapsed last month, the First Minister revealed Mr Salmond had been the first person to inform her he was being investigated by her government, doing so at her home on April 2.
However it was not until two months later, after he requested a second meeting, that she told Ms Evans what had happened, a delay the FM’s critics say breached the ministerial code.
Ms Sturgeon told Holyrood on January 10: “I was concerned that [a legal] challenge could be imminent, so I told the permanent secretary then that I knew about the investigation and I told her about the previous meeting, including the reference to a potential legal challenge.
“I told her that I supported her decision to investigate and that I would not seek to intervene in the investigation in any way.”
But in response to an FoI request by the i newspaper, the Scottish Government said disclosure of the full letter “could prejudice a case currently in court in Scotland”.
The development coincided with news that the Holyrood inquiry into the government’s botched probe and Ms Sturgeon’s part in it will meet for the first time next week.
The specially established “Committee on the Scottish Government handling of harassment complaints” is expected to suspend itself almost immediately on Wednesday.
Its agenda says the six women and three men on the committee will be invited to halt its work to avoid cutting across the separate criminal proceedings against Mr Salmond.
The former First Minister appeared in court last month charged with two counts of attempted rape, nine of sexual assault, two of indecent assault and one of breach of the peace.
He strongly denies any criminality.
The committee’s focus is the Government’s in-house investigation last year of two misconduct complaints against Mr Salmond.
The former SNP leader successfully challenged this process in a judicial review.
Ministers were forced to admit last month that the lead investigating official, who should have been new to the case, had several weeks of prior contact with the complainers.
This rendered the process unfair, unlawful and “tainted by apparent bias”, and left taxpayers with a £500,000 legal bill.
The MSPs’ committee will examine “actions of the First Minister, Scottish Government officials and special advisers” in relation to the misconduct probe. It will also look at Ms Sturgeon’s three meetings and two phone calls with Mr Salmond during that investigation.
Paperwork for Wednesday’s meeting says: “Court proceedings against Mr Salmond are now active and, as such, and as confirmed by the Presiding Officer, the Parliament’s sub judice rule now applies. It is recommended that the committee does not begin its inquiry (ie, seeking written evidence and holding oral evidence sessions) until these legal proceedings have concluded.”
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It adds the government’s own review of how the misconduct case collapsed and Ms Sturgeon’s referral to an ethics watchdog on the ministerial code are also on ice until “criminal proceedings are no longer active and the risk of prejudice has been removed”.
Despite Labour objections about perceived bias, an SNP MSP will chair the committee.
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