Salmond’s court threat over secret inquiry evidence
Letter from lawyer calls for papers withheld by ministers to be released
ALEX Salmond has threatened that he will go to court to force the Scottish Government to release documents it has withheld from a Holyrood inquiry.
The former First Minister’s lawyer has written to MSPs on the inquiry to tell them he would be prepared to go back to the Court of Session to force the documents to be released – but only if Holyrood pays the costs.
The letter, from David McKie of Levy and McRae, was published minutes before the latest meeting of a Holyrood inquiry into the handling of harassment complaints got under way.
Ministers have repeatedly refused to hand over vital evidence about the botched probe into Mr Salmond due to ‘legal privilege’.
The approach has sparked a major secrecy row between ministers and the committee.
At yesterday’s session, Lord Advocate James Wolffe, QC, told MSPs that he will provide more information on the issue and that the Scottish Government was ‘looking again’ at whether court documents from the case – which resulted in a payout of some £512,000 to the former First Minister – could be released.
In the letter, Mr McKie said: ‘We note that the Scottish Government continues to delay and to provide partial and incomplete evidence. That pattern is familiar to us from the judicial review proceedings.
‘We do not understand why an offer to produce these documents has not been offered in full by the Scottish Government, whose documents they are.’
Mr McKie said the ‘quickest and cheapest route’ is if the Scottish Government agrees to release all the documents cited by Mr Salmond as relevant.
If it refuses or further delays making the papers available, Mr McKie said: ‘The second option, which we are willing to undertake on behalf of the committee, would be for Mr Salmond to return to court to seek the express consent of the court to have those documents passed to the committee.’
However, Mr McKie added: ‘Whilst we are more than content to make that application on behalf of the committee, we would require clarification that all legal costs would be met by the committee.’
The letter concludes: ‘We regret that this matter is taking so long to progress but are not surprised.
‘It is consistent with the attitude and approach of the Scottish Government throughout the litigation, nevertheless, we hope that the good faith and constructive intention of our client is clear from the content of this letter.
‘Mr Salmond will work with the committee in any way he can to reach the shared goal of public disclosure of the relevant and necessary documents.’
In an apparent shift in position yesterday, Mr Wolffe suggested more information on the judicial review will now be provided, saying he would be ‘disappointed’ if it could not be.
Convener Linda Fabiani spoke about MSPs’ ‘frustration at the lack of information’ they had received from the Government.
Mr Wolffe told her: ‘The Government has made clear it is committed to co-operating as fully as possible with the committee’s inquiry.
‘The Government will provide the committee with a further written document, providing more detailed information about the judicial review. The Government is currently looking again at what steps it can take with a view to enabling the committee to have access, so far as possible, to the relevant court documents.’
He added: ‘Ministers are available, and indeed I am available, to answer questions from the committee about the Government’s legal position.’
Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser, a committee member, said: ‘We are approaching the last straw in the SNP Government’s repeated attempts to withhold information.
‘Alex Salmond has now joined the chorus demanding that the SNP give up the documents they don’t want us to see.
‘The Scottish public will not tolerate a whitewash. If the SNP continue to act like the inquiry is beneath them, we will never get answers about how half a million pounds was wasted.
‘We have heard from Leslie Evans that she was aware of rumours about Alex Salmond’s alleged behaviour. Now Nicola Sturgeon needs to break her silence about what she knew and when.’
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie, a committee member, said: ‘This explosive letter reveals the extent of the Scottish Government’s failure to be fully transparent with the committee and the public.
‘The invoking of legal privilege by powerful figures has become a regular fixture in this investigation and too many vital documents have been withheld from committee members.
‘We simply cannot have the endemic culture of secrecy that permeates the Scottish Government and civil service inhibiting the progress of this committee any further.
‘It is time for those who hold vital information to come clean with the committee so that we can get to the bottom of this affair together. The continued evasion is undignified, undemocratic and simply unacceptable. The secrecy must end: the truth must out.’
Speaking yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘I have recused myself from the decision-making around the Scottish Government’s handling on the inquiry, and that includes the handing over of documents.’