Leading MSPS demand urgent investigation
An outside police force must be asked to investigate cover-up claims at a nowdefunct crime-fighting agency, leading MSPS said yesterday.
Pressure is building on Police Scotland to order an independent inquiry into allegations of serious mismanagement at the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) after it was claimed files and documents discovered at a chaotic undercover unit were burned before officers reported potential fraud to prosecutors.
Yesterday, Scottish Liberal Democrat’s justice spokesman, Liam Mcarthur said the new claims in the “sorry affair” were “astonishing”.
Justice minister Humza Yousaf said last week that he and Police Scotland Chief Constable Ian Livingstone had been shocked by the “alleged practices in the SCDEA” after we revealed the scandal. But Mr Mcarthur said they must now take “concrete steps” to address concerns and said the revelations strengthen the case for a wider inquiry into undercover policing in Scotland.
He said: “That should start with commissioning another UK police force to review this particular sorry affair but there also continues to be a case for a wider public inquiry as is occurring in England and Wales.”
Scottish Greens MSP John Finnie, chair of the policing committee, said: “There should have been a clear policy about access, retention and disposal of official documents and it’s inconceivable this policy would suggest disposal by policepurchased petrol and incinerator appropriate.
“Police Scotland will suffer significant reputational damage if they don’t act now on these deeply worrying accounts.” Scottish Labour’s justice spokesman Daniel Johnson backed the call for an external force to investigate undercover policing in Scotland. He said: “I would be deeply troubled if the destruction of important files was ordered.
“We must have an investigation by an external force.
“Moreover, the long shadow of doubt this now casts over undercover policing means the Scottish Government must drop opposition to an independent inquiry into undercover policing. Only once such an inquiry is carried out can we recover confidence.”
The Scottish Government said an inquiry will need to wait for a civil action taken by a whistleblowing officer to be concluded. Known only as Mrs K, she successfully claimed to have been unfairly frozen out of her job after raising the alarm. Police Scotland are considering whether to appeal.