Salmond’s lawyers to hand over ‘bombshell’ messages
A CACHE of ‘suppressed’ evidence is to be handed to MSPs in a move Alex Salmond believes will prove the existence of a ‘malicious’ plot to send him to prison.
WhatsApp messages, texts, letters and legal documents could be handed over in the coming days.
MSPs on the committee investigating the Government’s handling of complaints against the former First Minister will receive the documents from his lawyers after he offered to provide them during his evidence session on Friday.
He said the material would be made available if the committee made a formal legal request under Section 23 of the Scotland Act.
Last night, a source close to Mr Salmond said the evidence was ‘dynamite’ and would substantiate his claims of a conspiracy.
Another said it would put the evidence of Peter Murrell, SNP chief executive and Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, ‘under severe scrutiny’.
The committee is nearing the end of its inquiry but
MSPs have repeatedly complained about the refusal by the Government and Crown Office to submit evidence. In his long-awaited appearance before the committee on Friday, Mr Salmond offered to help.
He said that, in the main, the committee ‘does not have an iota of that evidence, whether an email, a text message, a OneNote document or any other piece of information... I would dearly love to supply you with that’.
It is understood that after the meeting, a majority of MSPs on the committee agreed to make a formal request to Mr Salmond’s lawyers, which is now likely to be sent this week.
They believe the request could yield more evidence than the Section 23 demand already made to the Crown Office for disclosure of similar documents. One source said: ‘A majority on the committee is minded to take Mr Salmond up on his offer.
‘He seems to think this is the smoking gun which proves the conspiracy against him, and I think we are duty-bound to look at all the evidence we are given.’
On Friday, Mr Salmond told the committee: ‘The evidence supports a deliberate, prolonged, malicious and concerted effort among a range of individuals in the Scottish Government, and the SNP, to damage my reputation, even to the extent of having me imprisoned.’
It is understood the evidence could also cover the ‘commission and diligence’ stage of evidence gathering in the build-up to the judicial review, which found in Mr Salmond’s favour, and also correspondence from the Crown Office.
On Friday, Mr Salmond said that the leadership of the Crown Office, the civil service and Scotland had ‘failed’. He believes the documents his lawyers will hand to the committee will put those leaders under huge pressure.
A source close to him said: ‘It’s a step forward in restoring confidence in Scotland’s institutions.’
One document leaked was a message from Mr Murrell, to an SNP official, saying it was a ‘good time to be pressurising police’. He told the inquiry this was the only message he sent on the matter. But the source warned his evidence would come under ‘severe scrutiny’.