EX-MP: I’D DO 1000 THINGS DIFFERENT
NATALIE McGARRY EMBEZZLEMENT TRIAL SNP treasurer admits cash plan ‘not ideal’
FORMER MP Natalie McGarry has told a court she would “do 1000 things differently” after being accused of stealing from pro-independence groups.
McGarry, 40, admitted it “wasn’t ideal” to have linked her own bank account to a PayPal account which held donations to Women for Independence.
But in court yesterday she denied embezzling cash from the organisation and the Glasgow Regional Association of the SNP.
Defence counsel Allan MacLeod asked her if she had seen it as a problem linking her account to WFI’s PayPal. She replied: “It wasn’t ideal but in retrospect, would I do 1000 things differently.
“I would have done things completely differently and not gone near any of it.”
Mr MacLeod asked how WFI benefitted by money being in her bank account.
McGarry said: “I was purchasing on behalf of WFI and I was able to as it was my bank card as I had to pay for things I couldn’t pay for by cheque or cash.” The former SNP MP for Glasgow East denies stealing £21,000 while treasurer for WFI between April 2013 and November 2015.
She also pled not guilty to taking £4661 between April 2014 and August 2015 from her local SNP association.
Mr MacLeod asked: “Did you deliberately misappropriate funds from either of those organisations for your own use?”
McGarry, from Clarkston, near Glasgow, replied: “I did not.” The trial heard earlier how fellow members of both groups signed blank cheques for McGarry to use on their behalf.
McGarry agreed it was “not practical” but that it happened in other organisations.
Asked by Mr MacLeod whether anyone had asked her for “more facts and figures”, McGarry said “no one was interested in the small details of how we operated – people just wanted things done”.
The trial continues at Glasgow Sheriff Court.