ALEX Salmond has insisted there has been a “calculated and deliberate suppression of key evidence” as he criticised the Scottish Government’s complaints policy at the heart of its unlawful investigation into complaints against him.
The former first minister said actions taken by officials were not “true to the principles of openness, accountability and transparency”.
Speaking in front of a committee investigating the Scottish Government's handling of complaints against him, Mr Salmond vented his frustration at being unable to point to certain pieces of evidence he claims are key to the investigation.
Mr Salmond told MSPs that he has “watched with growing frustration over the last six months”, while the investigation has been “systematically deprived of the evidence that it has legitimately sought”.
READ MORE: Recap: Alex Salmond gives crunch evidence to Holyrood inquiry
The Scottish Government has lost two votes in Parliament, calling on officials to publish legal advice it received as part of the judicial review brought by Mr Salmond – but has not made the material public.
Mr Salmond added: “I'm just about your only witness who has been actively trying to present you with evidence, as opposed to withholding it.
“As we saw this week, even after it is published, it is then unpublished by intervention of a Crown Office who should not be questioning the will of Parliament.
“I watched in astonishment on Wednesday when the First Minister of Scotland - the First Minister of Scotland - used a Covid press conference - a Covid press conference- to effectively question the result of a jury.
“Still, I said nothing. Well today that changes.”
Mr Salmond said he cannot move on from the saga “until the decision-making which is undermining the system of government in Scotland is addressed”.
He added that “the Government refused to hand over documentation in the civil case” that cost taxpayers more than £500,000 .
Mr Salmond said: “It required a commission to extract it from them. The permanent secretary was brought to give evidence under oath, just to extract documents she had a duty to provide to the court.
“The government ignored the provisions of a search warrant in the criminal case, and despite the impact on the administration of justice, still withheld key documents which should have been put before the jury.
“This committee has been blocked and tackled at every turn, with calculated and deliberate suppression of key evidence.”
Mr Salmond said that not being allowed to discuss some of his written evidence under threat of legal action, was an “intolerable situation”, insisting this should “not be allowed to continue”.
He went on to speak about how the Scottish Government had acted in an “irresponsible and unlawful fashion”.
Ms Salmond said: “The description that is most commonly made in the press about the Government’s policy and what happened is ‘botched’.
“Your committee is examining, as is often said, the ‘botched policy’.
“The policy wasn’t botched. The policy was unlawful, unfair and tainted by apparent bias. Botched doesn’t cover it.”
READ MORE: Alex Salmond inquiry - Key points from his evidence
Mr Salmond was asked about a new procedure drawn up by the Scottish Government to investigate complaints of sexual harassment.
But he insisted that "if it was felt it was necessary to specify sexual harassment in the policy",officials should have "sat down with trade unions" to ensure that was done.
He pointed to comments made by permanent secretary Leslie Evans that she "didn't think that sexual harassment was covered by the policy", and added that it is "item number one" in that policy.
Mr Salmond added that it "strikes me that she has not familiarised herself with a policy she them wanted to replace", adding that it would be a "reasonable assumption" that "before you replace something, you at least understand the nature of what you are replacing".
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