Sturgeon spouse accused of embezzlement

The husband of former Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon has been charged with embezzlement in an investigation into the finances of Scotland’s pro-independence governing party.

Police in Scotland said a 59year-old man was charged on Thursday after being arrested and taken into custody earlier in the day. He was released after being charged, the force said.

While police did not name the suspect, the details provided matched up with Peter Murrell, the party’s former chief executive who was arrested just over a year ago.

Scottish police have been investigating how £600,000 (HK$5.8 million) earmarked for a Scottish independence campaign were spent. Murrell, Sturgeon and Colin Beattie, the Scottish National Party’s former treasurer, were arrested and questioned last year in the investigation but released without being charged with a crime.

Murrell’s first arrest came soon after Sturgeon’s stunning announcement in February 2023 that she was resigning her post after eight years as party leader and first minister of Scotland’s semi-autonomous government.

Murrell stepped down on March 18 amid controversy about the party’s declining membership and a bitter fight to replace Sturgeon. He held the position for more than 20 years.

At the time of Murrell’s first arrest, police searched the couple’s Glasgow home over two days.

Sturgeon said after being released from custody in June that her arrest had been “both a shock and deeply distressing”. She insisted she had done nothing wrong.

“I do wish to say this, and to do so in the strongest possible terms,” she said in a statement on social media at the time. “Innocence is not just a presumption I am entitled to in law. I know beyond doubt that I am in fact innocent of any wrongdoing.”

In announcing her resignation, Sturgeon said she knew “in my head and in my heart” that it was the right time for her, her party and her country to make way for someone else.