The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
EX-MP denies stealing £25k from groups
Former MP Natalie Mcgarry has denied embezzling cash from two organisations advocating for Scottish independence.
Mcgarry, 40, who represented Glasgow East for the SNP, allegedly stole more than £25,000 between April 2013 and August 2015.
She is said to have embezzled £21,000 while treasurer for Women for Independence (WFI) between April 26 2013 and November 30 2015.
A second charge states she took £4,661 between April 9 2014 and August 10 2015 when she was treasurer, secretary and convenor of Glasgow Regional Association (GRA) of the SNP.
According to the charge, the money was supposed to be donated to Perth and Kinross Foodbank and Positive Prisons Positive Futures.
Mcgarry, of Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, took the stand at Glasgow Sheriff Court yesterday.
Giving evidence, she told the jury that she suffered from a condition which affected her vocal nerves and was impacted by her mental health.
Defence counsel Allan Macleod asked her: “Did you embezzle money from the organisation Women for Independence?”
Mcgarry replied: “Certainly not.”
He then asked if she embezzled money from the Glasgow Regional Association of the Scottish National Party, and if she deliberately misappropriated funds from either of those organisations for her own use?
Mcgarry, who replied in the negative, claimed that she joined WFI in order to bridge the gap between male and female voices in the independence campaign.
She said she had taken a
more hands-on role with the administration side of WFI after an unpaid bill of £187 was sent to one of the organisation’s email accounts which had not been dealt with.
Mcgarry told the jury that it was “embarrassing” as the printing firm owed the cash was a personal contact.
She claimed that she and fellow founding member Shona Mcalpine did the “donkey work” for the organisation.
Mcgarry later said: “I’m a good organiser but I’m not the most organised person, this is not what I signed up for.
“I believed in the organisation and independence, someone had to step up and do it and there didn’t seem as if there were people doing it.
“It was just falling by the wayside and I didn’t want it to fail and Shona Mcalpine didn’t want it to fail.”
Mcgarry said that the pair pushed WFI through 2013 and 2014 and added that they were “overwhelmed.”
She claimed she was unemployed at the time
and being helped out financially by her parents.
She also said that her “arm was pulled” when she decided to stand as a candidate in the Cowdenbeath by-election for Holyrood in 2013.
She was defeated and later stood again for the SNP at the 2015 UK general election as a candidate for Glasgow East where she was elected.
Mcgarry said: “My campaign team were the best and deserved someone who would give their all to the campaign and I did and they did – we exhausted ourselves.
“There was nothing that we didn’t do that we could have.”
Mcgarry added that she was not “focused enough” on WFI business during the election campaign.
She was visibly emotional when she told the jury that she did not stand for election again in 2017, saying: “This was hanging over me and I wasn’t able to fight the election again – and I was pregnant as well.”
The trial continues before Sheriff Tom Hughes.