The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Salmond wins legal battle ahead of misconduct trial
Top lawyer to decide whether he should see redacted papers
Former first minister Alex Salmond has won a legal battle in his challenge against the Scottish Government’s handling of sexual misconduct complaints against him.
Lawyers for the 63-year-old politician went to the Court of Session yesterday to ask judge Lord Pentland to grant an order which would help them prepare their case.
Mr Salmond’s legal team have been given a number of redacted documents which detail how the Scottish Government dealt with the allegations.
They believe that the way civil servants handled the complaints was unfair to him and they want Scotland’s highest court to judicially review the processes used by government staff.
The court heard that the information was redacted because the women who made complaints against Mr Salmond were given assurances that their grievances would remain confidential.
The court also heard that these assurances were given on the basis that the complaints may not remain confidential in all legal circumstances.
His advocate Ronnie Clancy QC argued that the redacted data may contain information which could assist their case.
And he asked Lord Pentland to appoint a senior lawyer to examine whether the unredacted data should be disclosed to Mr Salmond’s legal team.
Lord Pentland said: “I’m satisfied that the petitioner’s motion with regard to specification of documents should be granted. The court will appoint Morag Ross QC as commissioner.
“I’m satisfied that it is in the interests of justice for this to take place.”
Lord Pentland spoke at the end of a procedural hearing into the case. A full judicial review is due to take place early next year.
The review will examine the circumstances of how civil servants investigated two allegations of sexual harassment against the former first minister, which he denies.
A separate police investigation into the allegations is ongoing and will not be affected by the judicial review, which focuses entirely on the government’s processes.
The Scottish Government have said the complaints against Mr Salmond couldn’t be “ignored or swept under the carpet” and said it would “vigorously defend” its position.
Two complaints were made to the government in January 2018, shortly after it had set up a new process for handling allegations fo sexual harassment.
The complaints relate to alleged events in 2013 when Mr Salmond was first minister.
The former MP and first minister said the subsequent investigation by the government was “unfair and unjust” and he quit the Scottish National Party whilst launching an online crowdfunding initiative to pay for the cost of the judicial review.