Former Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon (52) was released shortly after her arrest on Sunday evening. No formal charges have been made against them, Scottish police said. The investigation is continuing, police said.
The 52-year-old had been arrested about seven hours earlier as a suspect in the context of an investigation into financial disturbances within her party.
Research into the finances of the Scottish governing party SNP
A few months after her resignation as Scottish Prime Minister, Sturgeon was arrested in the course of an investigation into financial irregularities in her party. The 52-year-old was in custody and questioned by detectives, Scottish police said on Sunday. She is seen as a suspect in connection with the ongoing investigation into the finances of the Scottish governing party SNP.
Sturgeon’s spokeswoman confirmed similar media reports on Sunday. Sturgeon has agreed to cooperate with the investigation of the affair and is sticking to it. The SNP also said it was cooperating fully with authorities.
Sturgeon’s husband was briefly arrested in April
The investigations, which have been ongoing since 2021, concern a possible misappropriation of donations of nearly £667,000 collected in 2017 by supporters of Scottish independence for a campaign to that end. However, the money could have been used for other purposes as well. Her husband Peter Murrell and then SNP treasurer Colin Beattie were arrested in April. Both were later released without any charges being brought against them. Authorities also searched a number of properties, including Sturgeon and Murrell’s home and the SNP party headquarters in Edinburgh.
An outspoken opponent of Brexit, Sturgeon became the face of the Scottish independence movement during her reign. In mid-February, after more than eight years, she surprisingly announced her withdrawal from the leadership of the party and government. At that time there were already allegations against her husband. She claimed, however, that she did not resign under pressure, but because she knew “with heart and mind” that it was the right time to do so.
Since the end of March, Sturgeon’s 38-year-old confidant, Humza Yousaf, has been the new leader of the party and government. Sturgeon remains the Member of Parliament for the Glasgow Southside constituency.
Politically, Sturgeon’s arrest is a serious blow to the SNP. Yousaf tried to shift the focus from arrests and police investigations to the party’s policies and views, BBC correspondent Nick Eardley analyzed. It is inevitable that Yousaf will now have to swallow questions about the arrest and what it means for the party for days.
Source: Krone
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