NICOLA Sturgeon has said she will tackle some of the “ridiculous suggestions” around the Alex Salmond affair when she gives evidence to MSPs next week.
The First Minister, who has accused her predecessor of peddling conspiracy theories about her involvements, said she would confront allegations “head on”.
Mr Salmond has accused her of misleading parliament and breaching the ministerial code.
His supporters claim those close to Ms Sturgeon in government and the SNP orchestrated a high-level plot to ruin him and prevent him making a comeback.
Ms Sturgeon also took a code swipe at Mr Salmond, who has pulled out of his scheduled appearance before the inquiry tomorrow in a row over censored evidence, and may now call a press conference instead.
Ms Sturgeon said she would “not address these serious issues in a press conference - I will do that sitting before the inquiry as is my responsibility”.
READ MORE: Alex Salmond threatens to snub Holyrood inquiry over censored evidence
The inquiry is looking at how Ms Sturgeon’s government messed up a probe into sexual misconduct complaints made against Mr Salmond in early 2018.
He had the whole exercised set aside in a judicial review at the Court of Session in January 2019 after showing it had been irredeemably flawed.
The Government’s mistake left taxpayers with a £512,000 for his legal costs.
After the Government’s defence collapsed, Ms Sturgeon told Holyrood she had three meetings with Mr Salmond while he was being investigated by her officials.
She also said that she first learned of the allegations when Mr Salmond told her himself at the first of these meetings, which took place in her Glasgow home on 2 April 2018.
In in its judicial review pleadings in late 2018, the Scottish Government gave the same account to the Court of Session.
However it later emerged, during the March 2020 criminal trial at which Mr Salmond was acquitted of sexual assault, that Ms Sturgeon had learned about it four days earlier.
This was when she had a meeting with Mr Salmond’s former chief of staff, Geoff Aberdein, in her Holyrood office - a meeting she says she forgot about as it was a busy day at work.
At the daily Covid briefing today, Ms Sturgeon was asked by James Matthews of Sky News whether her Government had misled Scotland’s highest court based on her information.
She said: “This is a Covid briefing but I’ll briefly address that for this one time.
“No, that’s not the case, I refute that absolutely. I look forward to getting the opportunity at long last to appear before the committee of inquiry.
“I very much hope that will be next week, assuming they don’t postpone it again.”
She went on: “Let me be very clear, I’m willing to answer all and any questions put to me by that committee, including on the topic that you have just asked me.
“In addition to answering all and any questions I perhaps will also get the opportunity to take head-on some of the ridiculous suggestions that have been made about this whole situation, suggestions that I know have caused many people a great deal of distress.
“So that’s all I’m going top say about it right now. I look forward to sitting before the committee, but this is a Covid briefing and it’s important that I do my job, which is to steer the country as safely as I can through this pandemic.
“So do you have a Covid questions, James, before I move on?”
Mr Mathews replied: “It’s a question about integrity, First Minister, and integrity goes to the heart of everything you do, including Covid.
“Can I ask, when you say you refute that, do you refute that you supplied the information to the Scottish Government lawyers or that they misled the court?”
Mr Sturgeon said: “I’ve said what I’m going to say today. I refute the allegation that has been made, and I, as is right and proper, will not address these serious issues in a press conference. I will do that sitting before the inquiry as is my responsibility.”
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