Cyber vandals altered the wikipedia entry on the man charged with deciding whether Nicola Sturgeon broke the ministerial code to say he was a member of the SNP.
Within hourss of the release of James Hamilton's report on whether the First Minister had fallen short of ministerial standards, the short entry on Mr hamilton;s career was changed to say he was a former member of her political party.
The edit has since been corrected, but not before some on social media had begin to quote it.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon cleared of breaking ministerial code over Alex Salmond affair
The lawyer, a former director of public prosecutions in Ireland, cleared Ms Sturgeon of all the allegations she had broken the code, saying in his report: "I am of the opinion that the First Minister did not breach the provisions of the Ministerial Code in respect of any of these matters."
The edited article
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, is created and maintained by volunteer editors and revisions can be made by any member.
This has lead to the site being prone to vandalism - such as when a picture of a cockroach was substituted for the image of Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan.
Ms Sturgeon was cleared by the report
Mr Hamilton is a qualified barrister was was first appointed as an independent adviser to the Scottish Government’s Ministerial Code in 2013 by former first minister Alex Salmond, and reappointed by Ms Sturgeon in 2015. He is not a member of the SNP.
Prior to his inquiry into whether Ms Sturgeon had broken the ministerial code, he was asked by the Welsh Government in 2017 to investigate if its first minister, Carwyn Jones, had lied to the Welsh Assembly about bullying allegations within the government.
READ MORE: Background to the inquiry which cleared the First Minister
Mr Hamilton cleared Mr Jones of breaching the ministerial code and said his account to the Assembly was “accurate and truthful, and not misleading”.
He was also responsible for advising the Irish Government on legal issues arising during the negotiations which led to the conclusion of the Northern Ireland Agreement in 1998.
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