The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Obstruction of witnesses ‘an outrage’
Scotland’s deputy first minister has been a c c u s e d o f “unaccep tab le” obstruction of the Alex Salmond inquir y af ter refusing to allow two government witnesses to give evidence.
John Swinney has blocked two witnesses from appearing next week before the Holyrood committee probing the government’s botched investigation of sexua l harassmen t allegations against the former first mi n i s t e r, provoking
MSPs.
The committee had wanted to question Judith M a c k i n n o n , t h e investigating officer whose prior contact with two of Mr Salmond’s accusers caused the government investigation to be ruled “unlawful” and “tainted with apparent bias”.
Ms Ma c k i n n o n has previously appeared virtually before the committee but the Scottish Government requested that only the audio evidence further ire from was available to the public. The committee had also asked the government’s workforce director, Gillian Russell, to give evidence.
But Mr Swinney has written to the committee to refuse the requests , claiming it could create an “unacceptable risk” of potential identification of complainers in the court case against Mr Salmond.
Mr Sa lmond was acquitted of 13 charges at the H igh Court in Edinburgh in March.
The court case followed a
legal battle in which he was awarded more than £500,000 when the Court of Session in Edinburgh ru led a S co t t i sh Government investigation into his conduct wa s unlawful.
In reply to Mr Swinney’s letter, committee convener Linda Fabiani said: “I find it unacceptable that you say that the S c o tt i s h
Government does not agree to two of its civil servants giving evidence to the committee because the Scottish Government has not produced a timeline and s ta temen t to accompany documentation.
“While the committee appreciates that no witness should be put in a position where they m igh t inadvertently breach a
court undertaking or court order, it is the Scottish Government which has put its own employees in this position.”
Scottish Labour deputy leader and c o m m i tt e e member Jackie Baillie said: “This is nothing short of an outrage. This ham-fisted political interference into the work of this committee is simply unacceptable.”