THE SNP is not currently paying any legal fees for Peter Murrell, the Herald understands.
The former chief executive, who is married to Nicola Sturgeon, was arrested and released without charge last week, as Police Scotland searched the couple’s Glasgow home.
The force is investigating if £660,000 raised by the SNP specifically to fight a second independence referendum was spent on other things.
While the Glasgow search was underway on Wednesday, officers in Fife seized a luxury £110,000 motor home from outside the home of Mr Murrell’s widowed 92-year-old mother.
READ MORE: SNP refuse to say if Peter Murrell's membership has been suspended
SNP leader and First Minister Humza Yousaf previously said that the party may have “obligations” to pay any legal fees incurred by Mr Murrell.
He added last Thursday: “I have to look at the detail around whether we are paying for Peter's legal fees or not."
It emerged last week that the party has engaged the leading lawyer Stuart Munro, whose expertise includes “white collar crime” and “allegations of financial crime”.
He successfully represented the former administrator of Rangers Football Club in a major fraud prosecution.
The Sunday Post reported some SNP MPs and MSPs were unhappy at the possibility of party money, including their monthly levy, being used for Mr Murrell’s legal fees.
One insider told the paper: “The party sub is meant to support campaigning but the questions over the use of money at SNP HQ mean the MSPs are wondering how their cash is being spent – especially as there is now talk of the party spending a fortune on expensive ‘white collar crime’ lawyers and possibly paying Peter’s legal fees.
“Veteran MSPs who fought all their lives for independence are aghast, with some now talking about with-holding the money from HQ – instead diverting it to their branches, where it can be spent on actual campaigning.”
READ MORE: Humza Yousaf accused of stoking grievance on 'outrageous' gender veto
The SNP has repeatedly refused to say if Mr Murrell has been suspended by the party or has voluntarily stepped aside in light of the police investigation.
It is understood he is being treated as an “ordinary member”, as he is not elected or an officer bearer.
It is also understood that “the SNP is not paying for Peter Murrell's legal representation”.
However it is unclear whether the party could yet pay his legal fees in future.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel