Lawyer’s inquiry clears Scottish leader

LONDON — Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon didn’t mislead lawmakers or act improperly over sexual harassment allegations against her predecessor, a senior lawyer said Monday in his report into a scandal that has roiled Scottish politics.

James Hamilton, a former chief prosecutor in Ireland who advises the Scottish government, concluded that Sturgeon didn’t breach the code of conduct for government ministers. Sturgeon would have faced intense pressure to resign if she had been found to have broken the ministerial code.

Sturgeon welcomed the lawyer’s findings, calling them “official, definitive and independent.”

“I sought at every stage in this issue to act with integrity and in the public interest,” she said.

Hamilton’s inquiry centered on the Scottish government’s handling of sexual harassment allegations against Alex Salmond, who served as Scotland’s first minister before Sturgeon took office in 2014.

A report from a second inquiry, by a committee of Scottish lawmakers, is due for publishing today. British media have reported that the committee voted 5-4 in favor of finding that Sturgeon gave an inaccurate account to Scotland’s Edinburgh-based parliament about when she learned of allegations against Salmond.

In 2019, Salmond was charged with sexual assault and attempted rape after allegations by nine women who had worked with him as first minister or for the party. He was acquitted by a criminal court in 2020, and he says the allegations made by several women were part of a conspiracy to wreck his political career.