Crown Office prosecutors investigating SNP fraud claims have contacted alleged victims

SUNDAY MAIL EXCLUSIVE: A Freedom of Information request has revealed COPFS has been in communication with alleged victims in the case.

Crown prosecutors investigating SNP fraud claims have contacted alleged victims in the case, the Sunday Mail can reveal.

Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell - Nicola Sturgeon’s husband - was charged with embezzling party funds in April as Police Scotland continued their investigation codenamed Operation Branchform.

But now the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) have revealed they been in communication with some alleged victims.

Under Freedom of Information laws, the question whether any victim had requested information and if so whether any information was provided, a spokesman responded: “In line with our obligations under Section six of the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014, COPFS has communicated with relevant parties in relation to this matter.”

Senior Crown Office lawyers are considering whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute Murrell and whether it would be in the public interest to do so.

Sturgeon and former party treasurer Colin Beattie were also been arrested and questioned as suspects before being released without charge last year.

The latest development comes weeks after Police Scotland asked prosecutors for directions on the next steps in their inquiry in relation to Beattie and Sturgeon.

A source said: “Things are moving along behind the scenes, a team is being put together at Crown Office and there will be developments in due course.

“It is now over three years since complaints were first received in this case and so alleged victims and complainers will understandably be wondering what is going on.”

The Branchform probe is focused on how cash raised in 2017 and 2019 as part of a referendum appeal has been spent.

Concerns were raised when SNP accounts showed there was less than £100,000 in the bank at the end of 2019, despite £600,000 being donated.

That sparked at least 19 criminal complaints. After the probe began, Murrell loaned the SNP £107,620 to help with the party’s “cash flow”.

The Sunday Mail revealed the accounts were under police scrutiny in early 2021.

Last December, we told police were probing the purchase of a £95,000 Jaguar. A car fitting the description of the Jaguar was snapped on his and Sturgeon’s driveway in March 2021 but has since been sold.

It’s the second vehicle to be probed - a £110,000 campervan was seized from Murrell’s mum’s drive in Dunfermline.

In February last year, Sturgeon announced she would quit as first minister and SNP leader as police started interviewing senior party officials.

Murrell then stepped down from his position the following month after it emerged he had lied over a Sunday Mail story revealing 30,000 people had left the SNP.

Hundreds of items of expenditure are under investigation by police who carried out raids on SNP offices and Sturgeon and Murrell’s home last year.

The case has overshadowed attempts by both Humza Yousaf and now John Swinney as First Minister to get the party back on track before the 2026 Scottish election.

Story SavedYou can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.