Ex-MP in mortgage fraud police probe will not be charged
A FORMER Nationalist MP who plunged the party into scandal after her property deals were investigated by police will not be prosecuted for mortgage fraud.
Michelle Thomson, 52, who represented Edinburgh West, was one of five people named in a report sent to the Crown Office last year.
The controversy forced her to stand down as SNP business spokesman and she withdrew from the whip at Westminster only five months after being elected.
The police inquiry focused on solicitor Christopher Hales, who was struck off after he acted for Mrs Thomson’s property company in deals which raised questions over possible mortgage fraud.
Mrs Thomson was reported to prosecutors last December following the investigation, but yesterday the Crown Office said there would be no prosecution due to an absence of ‘credible and reliable evidence’.
The former MP, who has always denied any wrongdoing, said last night that she had been ‘completely exonerated’.
A Crown Office spokesman said: ‘The procurator fiscal received a report concerning four men aged 48, 56, 59 and 59, and one woman aged 51, in relation to alleged incidents between June 16, 2010, and July 26, 2011. After careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case, Crown counsel concluded there was an absence of sufficient credible and reliable evidence and there should be no criminal proceedings at this time.’
In a statement, Mrs Thomson said: ‘I am eternally grateful to my
‘Consider my next steps’
SNP colleagues in Westminster who supported me so strongly throughout this time.
‘I also thank Police Scotland and the Crown Office for their courtesy and professionalism.
‘I thank my friends and support- ers who gave me constant encouragement throughout and, above all, I am indebted to my family and acknowledge that the past two years have been very difficult for them too.’
She added: ‘I now intend to take a few days of reflection to consider my next steps.’
The mother of two, who was elected as the Nationalist MP for Edinburgh West at the 2015 General Election, resigned the party whip when police launched their investigation later that year.
She announced she was standing down from Parliament earlier this year after being told she was not eligible for selection as an SNP candidate.
Days before it emerged she had been reported to prosecutors last December, Mrs Thomson stunned the Commons by delivering an emotional speech detailing a rape she suffered aged 14.
She said she had never revealed her attacker’s identity.
She did not report her ordeal to the police at the time, or confide in family or friends for fear that they might blame her.
Meanwhile, Mrs Thomson’s exSNP colleague Natalie McGarry, who was also forced to sit as an independent MP before being deselected, is facing a fraud trial.
The former Glasgow East MP was charged last year over alleged fraud relating to potential missing funds from the Women For Independence group.