A Westminster committee is being urged to investigate the "wider institutional questions" arising from Peter Murrell embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP. Shadow Scottish secretary Andrew Bowie said with First Minister John Swinney refusing to support an independent inquiry into such issues, there is now a "compelling argument" for such work to be done by Westminster.
Murrell – the ex-husband of former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon – this week admitted embezzling £400,310.65 from the SNP between 2010 and 2022. The then-party chief executive spent cash on a range of items, including an expensive motorhome, cars, kitchen gadgets such as coffee makers and Lalique salt and pepper grinders costing over £2,600, expensive watches and pens, as well as more mundane purchases such as hand cream and toilet seats.
While Murrell, 61, has been remanded ahead of sentencing next month, Mr Swinney has so far dismissed all calls for an inquiry. The SNP leader has insisted a parliamentary inquiry will not add anything to the "five-year forensic police investigation" that has already been carried out. But Mr Bowie argued that "given the gravity of the misconduct" involved and the "seniority" of Murrell’s role as SNP chief executive at the time, there are "unanswered questions surrounding governance and oversight."
In a letter to Scottish Affairs Committee chairwoman Patricia Ferguson, he said: "There is a strong and compelling case for the committee to undertake an inquiry. While the criminal justice process has rightly addressed individual culpability, it does not answer the wider institutional questions that this case raises. In the absence of a Holyrood-led inquiry, there is a compelling argument for Westminster scrutiny to ensure that the necessary questions are asked, and lessons properly learned."
Speaking out about the matter, Mr Bowie said: "John Swinney’s refusal to sanction a Holyrood inquiry into this scandal means it falls to Westminster to examine the failings in financial governance that allowed Peter Murrell to steal from SNP accounts for years. I have written to the chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee requesting a probe because there were clearly systemic failings that Murrell exploited. These need to be identified and addressed so that lessons are learned – not just by the SNP but by all political parties."
He claimed it is "strange and sinister" that Mr Swinney is opposed to a further inquiry. Mr Bowie said: "If, as he says, the SNP is the victim in this, then surely he’d want to know exactly how and why the party was fleeced by Murrell? A cynic might think he has something to hide, given he and Nicola Sturgeon sought to silence internal whistleblowers who first raised concerns about the state of the party’s finances. But SNP donors deserve answers – and so do taxpayers, as it appears public money was in the pot that Murrell stole from to feather the marital nest he shared with Sturgeon."
Speaking in Holyrood on Thursday, Mr Swinney said: "We have just had a police investigation which has gone on for five years and that police investigation has identified criminality as the source of this particular issue, and that is now being remedied. I don’t think there is anything a parliamentary inquiry can add to a five-year forensic police investigation that has resulted in the successful prosecution of an individual and his guilty plea." The SNP leader added he would rather "concentrate on the priorities of the people of Scotland."
Ms Ferguson said: "We are aware of calls for the Scottish Affairs Committee to undertake work in respect of the recent developments relating to the SNP party’s finance. The Committee will consider this issue in due course."
