Government says its legal advice debunks Salmond’s ‘plot’ claim
LEGAL advice released by the Scottish Government last night appears to debunk Alex Salmond’s central claim about a high-level plot against him.
Mr Salmond has claimed senior SNP figures conspired to use a police investigation to thwart his high-profile legal fight with the Government.
He said their aim was effectively to have his judicial review action over sexual misconduct claims elbowed aside by the criminal case, sparing Nicola Sturgeon embarrassment.
He said they wanted his case to be paused or “sisted” as the lower priority, so the criminal case would “overtake” his and ruin and even jail him.
However, the newly-released legal advice shows the Government didn’t want Mr Salmond’s case to be sisted.
Ms Sturgeon was explicitly advised against that option, and told reporting restrictions on the identity of two women who had complained about Mr Salmond would clearly be the “preferable and appropriate route”.
The First Minister was given the advice in September 2018, while Mr Salmond’s case was still in its infancy, suggesting there would be little merit in any subsequent plot based on sisting it.
Releasing the material to the Holyrood inquiry into the Salmond affair, Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “This puts beyond any doubt that there was any attempt to delay the judicial review so that it would be overtaken by criminal proceedings.”
It followed Ms Sturgeon telling the inquiry on Wednesday that Mr Salmond’s theory about “gaming” the justice system was bizarre and absurd, and stressed the Government never tried to have his case sisted.
Mr Salmond launched his judicial review in August 2018 after the Scottish Government completed a sexual misconduct probe into him, based on complaints filed in January of that year.
The Government also alerted the police to its probe in August 2018, starting a criminal investigation.
In a note written to the First Minister and her top official on September 17, 2018, Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC wrote: “The question arises as to how to minimise the potential impact of the reporting of these [judicial review] proceedings on any future criminal process.
“There are two potentially available mechanisms to that end:
“(i) a sist (ie the petition is put on hold for a period of time to allow the criminal investigation to proceed); and
(ii) reporting restrictions.
“I am satisfied that, if reporting restrictions are competent, these would adequately protect the public interest in any future criminal proceedings.
“On that basis, that would clearly be the preferable and appropriate route, since it would enable the issues raised by the petition [for judicial review] to be addressed whilst protecting any future criminal process.”
Mr Salmond won his civil case against the Government in January 2019, showing its probe had been “tainted by apparent bias”.
He was later charged with sexual assault but acquitted on all counts at a High Court trial last year.
A Holyrood inquiry is now looking at
the mistakes in the Government’s probe and its doomed legal defence.
Despite two Holyrood votes in November demanding full disclosure, Mr Swinney only released some of the Government’s legal advice on Tuesday, after being threatened with losing his job in a no confidence vote.
He said: “It is clear that delaying the case – known as sisting – was only considered as an option in order to minimise the impact of the case on the ongoing police investigation.
“This option was explicitly ruled out by the Lord Advocate who made clear that it was ‘preferable and appropriate’ that court-imposed reporting restrictions protect the integrity of any future prosecution.”
The Salmond affair saw fierce clashes between Ms Sturgeon and Holyrood Tory leader Ruth Davidson at FMQS.
The First Minister accused the Tories of “desperate political games” after Ms Davidson accused her of breaching the Scottish ministerial code in relation to the Salmond affair.
New Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the exchanges were “the worst of our politics”, contrasting them with the “wisdom, compassion, justice and integrity” on the Holyrood mace.
He also extracted a promise from Ms Sturgeon to publish an imminent report on whether she lied to MSPS and broke the ministerial code on the day she receives it from independent adviser James Hamilton QC.
This puts beyond any doubt that there was any attempt to delay the judicial review