I’ve nothing to hide, says Sturgeon... as Salmond lashes out
NICOLA Sturgeon has i nsisted she has ‘nothing whatsoever to hide’ over the Scottish Government’s botched Alex Salmond probe.
The First Minister yesterday maintained that her evidence to the Holyrood inquiry into the handling of harassment complaints against her predecessor had been ‘full and frank’.
But Mr Salmond has accused her Government of being selective in providing only ‘partial’ evidence to MSPs.
The former First Minister’s lawyers claim that the Scottish Government has been selective with documentation handed over to the investigating committee.
In a letter to the panel, they also say officials had attempted to publish potentially explosive evidence which had already been ruled unlawful.
It comes amid denials from Miss Sturgeon that she had misled parliament by forgetting to tell MSPs about a meeting in which she first learned Mr Salmond was likely to face sexual harassment complaints.
But Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader at Holyrood, yesterday said Miss Sturgeon’s ‘sudden memory loss’ was ‘beyond belief ’ as she accused the SNP of ‘taking people for fools’.
Miss Sturgeon’s evidence to the Holyrood inquiry was made public this week. In it, the SNP leader admitted she had been made aware that Mr Salmond was likely to face allegations of a sexual nature four days before she had initially claimed in parliament. This was at a meeting with former adviser Geoff Aberdein in her Holyrood office on March 29, 2018.
Details emerged of this after Mr Aberdein gave evidence under oath at Mr Salmond’s criminal trial in March. Mr Salmond was later cleared of 13 counts of sexual assault.
The meeting was not recorded by Miss Sturgeon or disclosed until August of this year.
She recently claimed she had ‘forgotten’ about it.
It has led to accusations that Miss Sturgeon ‘ misled’ parliament on January 29, when she told MSPs the first time she had learned about allegations was when Mr Salmond told her on April 2, 2018.
She yesterday claimed that her evidence to the inquiry was a ‘full and frank account’ of her involvement in the events.
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘I have nothing to hide in this, nothing whatsoever’.
However, a letter from Mr Salmond’s lawyers was published by the committee in which concerns about ‘ transparency’ of officials are raised.
The correspondence is from David McKie, of Levy & McRae.
He states: ‘The Scottish Government’s continued intention is to provide delayed and partial production of documents which on one view they have been legally entitled to produce to the committee for months (those being Scottish Government documents) whilst simultaneously seeking to produce material which has been reduced as unlawful by court order and is the subject of undertakings given to the Court of Session.’
He claims the ‘ only possible explanation’ for such a step ‘appears to our client to be a desire unjustifiably to malign his reputation’.
A row between the committee and Scottish Government has been brewing over the release of documents and delays to the inquiry due to a lack of evidence, which has been requested.
Yesterday, Miss Sturgeon said she was looking forward to appearing in person before the inquiry ‘sooner rather than later’, adding: ‘I have no difficulty in answering all and any questions as soon as I am given the opportunity to do so.
‘I am being completely open about all this. I will sit before a committee whenever it decides to call me, and I will give my account of everything that happened, on oath. I have got nothing to hide in all this.’
She made the comments during First Minister’s Questions after Miss Davidson challenged her over evidence submitted to the inquiry.
She questioned the claim that Miss Sturgeon had forgotten about her meeting with Mr Aberdein because it had been after a busy FMQs.
And the First Minister claimed her meeting with Mr Salmond in April during which he told her about complaints had been ‘seared’ on to her memory. Miss Davidson said she had checked FMQ records for 2018.
She added: ‘We ended up talking about the Arctic Strategy, which is not something to cause anyone to forget sexual assault allegations. This does not even bear the lightest scrutiny. It is beyond belief.’
Miss Sturgeon had also told MSPs of her ‘lingering concern’ that allegations against Mr Salmond would emerge since November 2017. It was then she had been informed of an alleged incident at Edinburgh Airport involving Mr Salmond.
Meanwhile, Miss Sturgeon yesterday also appeared to defend her husband, Peter Murrell, the SNP’s chief executive. He has come under fire over two text messages – one appearing to suggest his support for pressurising the police followi ng f ormal charges being brought against Mr Salmond.
In a statement to the inquiry, Mr Murrell said he had merely advised people to direct questions or concerns to officers.
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘When serious complaints are made, they should be properly investigated. When criminal complaints are made, it is right to say that the police should properly investigate and should answer any questions.’
The Holyrood inquiry is examining the Government’s botched probe into two harassment complaints against Mr Salmond. After a judicial review it was found the investigation was ‘tainted with apparent bias’.
The former SNP leader was awarded more than £500,000 in taxpayer cash for legal fees.
‘Doesn’t bear the lightest scrutiny’