Fraud case against former MP dropped
● Crown says lack of evidence halted fraud investigation
Criminal proceedings against former MP Michelle Thomson will stop due to “an absence of sufficient credible and reliable evidence”. Ms Thomson said she had been “completely exonerated”.
The former SNP MP Michelle Thomson will not face charges after prosecutors dropped the mortgage fraud investigation involving her property business because of a lack of evidence.
Ms Thomson, the former Edinburgh West MP, had been reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) in 2016 following a police probe into her £1.5 million business.
She was reported alongside her husband Peter, her former business partner Frank Gilbride and her former lawyer Christopher Hales, who had been struck off for professional misconduct following a series of property deals that led to the fraud investigation.
Speaking after the Crown Office announced that the investigation will not go ahead, Ms Thomson said she had been “completely exonerated”.
A Crown Office spokesman said: “The procurator fiscal received a report concerning four men aged 48, 56, 59 and 59, and one woman aged 51, in relation to alleged incidents between 16 June 2010 and 26 July 2011.
“After careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case, Crown Counsel concluded there was an absence of sufficient credible and reliable evidence and there should be no criminal proceedings at this time.”
Ms Thomson won her seat for the SNP in the 2015 general election. She was suspended and resigned the party whip when police began their investigations later that year.
She has always denied wrong-doing and she did not stand for re-election when Theresa May called her snap election earlier this year.
The police investigation was launched in September 2015 after Mr Hales was disciplined by a Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal (SSDT). He had acted for Ms Thomson’s company M&F Property Solutions in several deals.
In a statement, Ms Thomson said: “Yesterday I received news from the Crown Office that confirmed I have been completely exonerated by the police investigation into a solicitor I used in 2010. I am eternally grateful to my SNP colleagues in Westminster who supported me so strongly throughout this time.
“I also thank Police Scotland and the Crown Office for their courtesy and professionalism.
“I thank my friends and supporters who gave me constant encouragement throughout and above all, I am indebted to my family and acknowledge that the past two years have been very difficult for them too. I now intend to take a few days of reflection to consider my next steps.”
Hales was banned from the legal profession in May 2014 over 13 property deals linked to Ms Thomson and her business partners. They involved “back to back” sales, where homes were bought at below full market value and then resold at far higher prices, in some cases on the same day.
Ms Thomson was one of two SNP MPS who resigned the whip in the last parliament.
The other was Natalie Mcgarry, the former Glasgow East MP who has been charged with embezzlement.
Ms Mcgarry, who like Ms Thomson came to political prominence during the 2014 independence referen- dum, was charged with fraud offences in September last year.
Ms Mcgarry denies any wrong-doing. Like Ms Thomson, she did not stand at the recent election.
Some time after resigning the whip she won admiration from her Westminster colleagues for the dignified way that she described, during a House of Comnons debate discussing violence against women, how she was raped as a teenager by someone she knew.
“Yesterday I received news from the Crown Office that confirmed I have been completely exonerated. I now intend to take a few days of reflection to consider my next steps” MICHELLE THOMSON