NICOLA Sturgeon is facing more questions over the SNP’s finances as police step up their investigation into a potential fundraising fraud,
After preliminary contacts when the probe began 18 months ago, Police Scotland have started to contact key witnesses about taking more substantive statements.
One senior figure told the Herald on Sunday they expected to be interviewed imminently as 'Operation Branchform' shifts gear.
Launched in July 2021, it is looking at whether funds raised specifically for an “independence campaign” were improperly spent by the SNP on other things.
The police have now been asked to include a six-figure loan from Ms Sturgeon’s husband to the party in their inquiry.
Peter Murrell, the SNP chief executive, loaned £107,620 the day after a party leadership meeting discussed the funding being looked at by police, the Herald on Sunday can reveal.
The SNP’s ruling body discussed the independence fund on 19 June 2021, after which Treasurer Colin Beattie issued a lengthy public statement denying anything was amiss.
The following day, Mr Murrell made the loan “to assist with cashflow”.
The Scottish Tories said Ms Sturgeon must explain the “extraordinary coincidence”.
The SNP has refused to say if the referendum fund and the loan are linked.
The SNP failed to declare the loan for more than a year - the first time it had failed to declare a loan on time since entering power in 2007 - and disguised the source in its annual accounts.
Although the party said the money was to assist with cashflow after the 2021 Holyrood election, more than half of it - £60,000 - has yet to be repaid.
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