Sturgeon told not to delete Salmond emails
● Investigation into collapsed inquiry wants access to all communications
Nicola Sturgeon has been warned not to delete personal emails and texts between herself and Alex Salmond by MSPS investigating the collapse of a Scottish Government inquiry into misconduct claims against the former first minister.
The committee on the Scottish Government handling of harassment complaints is also seeking clarity on whether key Scottish Government data relating to the case has been deleted already.
Committee convener Linda Fabiani has written to Scotland’s most senior civil servant, Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans, and Ms Sturgeon.
It comes after Ms Evans revealed Scottish Government computer systems automatically delete material not saved on to the corporate record system after a period of time.
0 Former first minister Alex Salmond won his case over the way the Scottish Government handled complaints
But Ms Evans assured MSPS on the committee this feature could be temporarily suspended for some users.
Ms Fabiani also sent a letter to the First Minister after she pledged to answer to
the “fullest extent possible” any questions regarding her involvement with a legal challenge her predecessor brought against the Scottish Government.
Ms Fabiani noted the “public
commitment” the First Minister had made to “co-operate fully” with the committee inquiry.
She told Ms Sturgeon: “The committee would therefore welcome confirmation from
you that, in keeping with this commitment, you will ensure that all hard copy and electronic documents (including emails and electronic messages) which you hold, and which may be either directly or indirectly relevant to the inquiry are being preserved – this will include any personal communications such as email and mobile phone data.”
Ms Evans, the head of the civil service in Scotland, has already told the committee that staff who may hold information relevant to the investigation have been instructed not to delete it.
But Ms Fabiani’s letter states: “In relation to halting the deletion process, can you confirm whether documents which may be relevant to the inquiry have been deleted before this halt was ordered and what steps are being taken to recover this information.”
The Court of Session in Edinburgh found the Scottish Government had acted unlawfully over the way it handled two complaints about Salmond’s conduct in January, resulting in ministers conceding defeat after a legal challenge brought by the ex-first minister.
Salmond has since been charged with separate criminal allegations, including attempted rape.
He denies all criminality.