Police step up investigation into Salmond sex allegations
Former First Minister faces quiz over misconduct claims made by women
POLICE have launched a formal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct made against Alex Salmond.
Officers stepped up their probe into the former First Minister after assessing two complaints received last month.
Mr Salmond could now face questioning from detectives about the allegations.
According to a newspaper, which said it had seen the wording of one of the complaints Mr Salmond faces, a woman alleges he touched her bottom and breasts through her clothing while she was alone with him at Bute House. Mr Salin mond has insisted he has not sexually harassed anyone or been involved in criminality.
Until now, Police Scotland only said that it was ‘carrying out an assessment of information we have received’ and had stopped short of a full investigation. In an updated statement issued yesterday, the force said: ‘Our inquiries continue. We will not be commenting further.’
It is understood the force has moved beyond assessing the information and has now begun formal inquiries, which are likely to include interviews with the complainants and Mr Salmond.
Mr Salmond’s solicitors, Levy & McRae, said: ‘We have had no contact from Police Scotland. However, we have written to the chief constable making it clear that if they require in the future to speak to Mr Salmond on any matter our client will be happy to meet with his officers.’
Scotland’s top civil servant, Leslie Evans, the Scottish Government’s Permanent Secretary, last month confirmed she had concluded an investigation into allegations by two staff members relating to Mr Salmond’s time in office five years ago.
He then launched a judicial review against the Government he used to lead over its handling of the sexual misconduct claims made against him, specific details of which first appeared in the Daily Record.
The Levy & McRae spokesman added: ‘Mr Salmond’s focus is on the petition for judicial review against the Scottish Government which is now ongoing in the Court of Session.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘For legal reasons we can make no further comment on the issues relating to Mr Salmond at this time.’
Meanwhile, a freedom of information response from the Scottish Government shows that trade unions raised concerns about a ‘history of alleged bad behaviour’ at the top of the Scottish Government nearly a decade ago.
Union leaders told officials they had received reports of ‘problems ministerial offices’ but their members had not followed through with a formal complaint.
They also spelled out a series of concerns about the way staff working with a first minister and other members of the Cabinet could make complaints about their behaviour.
They repeatedly questioned the process for complaints about the first minister, who at the time was Mr Salmond, and demanded that the UK civil service should carry out any investigations into the incumbent’s conduct.
But many of the demands were rejected by the Scottish Government.
Two years of correspondence
‘Happy to meet with officers’ ‘An issue for almost a decade’
between government officials and trade union representatives in 2009 and 2010, released under freedom of information, has been seen by the Scottish Daily Mail.
In the documents, the government states complaints about ministers should be dealt with within eight weeks – compared to the eight months it took to conclude its investigation into Mr Salmond.
A Scottish Tory spokesman said: ‘This information shows concerns about the behaviour of senior figures did not merely creep up on the Scottish Government. It has clearly been an issue of concern for almost a decade at least.
‘Perhaps if some of these recommendations had been adopted as requested by unions, the unedifying process which is now under way would not have occurred.’
The documents reveal correspondence with the unions about a Scottish Government ‘Fairness at Work’ policy.
Concerns about ministers’ behaviour were raised by unions in November 2009 at a Partnership Board meeting.
Minutes state that they ‘referred to a history of alleged bad behaviour by ministers in the former Scottish Office/Scottish Executive and now Scottish Government’, and said a draft of the Fairness at Work policy was ‘unacceptable’.
The minutes also say that ‘the unions receive phone calls from their members about problems in ministerial offices but no one has submitted a formal report’.
In 2010, unions demanded that any ‘situation involving the first minister’ should be dealt with by the UK civil service rather than the Scottish Government.