Wednesday morning the police he arrested Peter Murrell, husband of former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, as part of an investigation into an alleged embezzlement of money from Scottish National Party funds. Murrell, who is 58 years old, was for many years the managing director of the party, which also includes his wife, a role which involves, among other things, the management of funds: he left his post at the end of March after it was discovered that he had given incorrect information on the number of members lost by the party in the last two years.
The investigation had been launched in 2021 and concerns 600 thousand pounds (about 680 thousand euros) that the party had collected in 2017 among its supporters to organize a campaign for a new referendum on the country’s independence, after the failed one in 2014. From the investigations it emerged that the party had spent only £57,000 on that purpose, and that the rest of the money raised was not in the party’s coffers. Investigators speculate that Murrell played a role in the alleged misuse of the missing money.