Holyrood warned over going public on probe

Scotland’s chief constable warned against the Scottish Government going public about its investigation of Alex Salmond, a witness statement released by the Crown Office has confirmed.

A Police Scotland detective chief superintendent said they and the chief constable, Iain Livingstone, “both voiced our concerns” about the government’s plan to announce there were allegations of sexual harassment by the former first minster before police had investigated the claims.

The extract of the witness statement was released after the Holyrood inquiry into the government’s unlawful investigation of Mr Salmond used powers in the Scotland Act to demand the Crown Office release evidence.

It also confirmed that Crown Agent David Harvie offered to give the police a copy of the findings of the government’s internal investigation – an offer that was rejected.

In the witness statement, the detective chief superintendent – whose name has been redacted – recounts the meeting where police were told that the government had referred the complaints about Mr Salmond to the Crown Office “for investigation of potential criminality”.

They said that it was agreed a “proactive approach” was required to identify other potential complainers.

The former SNP leader subsequently challenged the lawfulness of the investigation and the government eventually conceded the judicial review after prior contact between the investigating officer fatally undermined its defence.

Mr Salmond was later acquitted of 13 charges of sexual assault at the High Court in Edinburgh.

An Aberdeen company is to pay back more than £6.4 million after it selfreported involvement in bribery to secure contracts in Kazakhstan.

The Civil Recovery Unit is to recover the money under proceeds of crime legislation after the company accepted it had benefited from unlawful conduct.

Energy company WGPSN admitted that one of its subsidiaries, PSNA Limited, had benefited from payments made to Unaoil to secure contracts in Kazakhstan.

The payments to Unaoil were made in connection with three contract tenders, two of which were successful, to provide services for the operation and maintenance of onshore and offshore oil and gas, chemical and petrochemical facilities in Kazakhstan.

WGPSN’s ultimate holding company is John Wood Group PLC.

The contracts were entered into before the PSNA business was acquired by Wood, and the potential misconduct came to light in March 2016.

Wood conducted an internal investigation and, in May 2017, the results of the investigation were submitted to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC said: “Bribery and corruption undermine legitimate business and harm economic development.”

He continued: “Companies are responsible for ensuring they do not allow their employees or contractors to secure any commercial advantage through bribery.”