Former MSP disputes expenses evidence

FORMER SNP MP Natalie McGarry said “thousands” of pounds in pro-independence group expenses would have been paid in cash, a court has heard.

McGarry, 40, said the true scale of expenditure incurred during her time at Women for Independence (WFI) could not be quantified by looking at bank statements alone.

The former Glasgow East MP estimated that about £5,000 to £10,000 of costs from tasks such as printing banners and badges would have been paid in cash.

McGarry, of Clarkston, Glasgow, is accused of embezzling £21,000 while treasurer for WFI between April 23 2013 and November 30 2015.

A second charge alleges she took £4,662 between April 9 2014 and August 10 2015 when she was treasurer, secretary and convener of the Glasgow Regional Association (GRA) of the SNP.

McGarry, who is on trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court, denies both charges.

Defence solicitor Allan Macleod, took McGarry through a series of events she attended in 2014 outlining costs incurred.

The total expenses were £3,815.64 and involved travel to Edinburgh and the isle of Mull.

McGarry told the court that after going through the diary entries “there are things we have agreed should be taken off”. But she said the costs she ran up while at WFI were much greater than the reconstruction showed.

Many payments would not have been made by bank transfers, she told the court. When asked how much she expected was spent over her time at WFI, McGarry said: “In the thousands – more than five, possibly 10.”

The court also saw McGarry’s busy schedule – both on and after the Scottish independence referendum on September 18 2014.

She told the court her schedule made a “mockery” of earlier testimony by Kathleen Caskie which suggested McGarry did not have much of a role in WFI after the vote. The trial, before Sheriff Tom Hughes, continues.