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The husband of former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of misappropriating funds from the Scottish National Party.
Peter Murrell, the former chief executive of the SNP, was arrested on Thursday, having previously been arrested on April 5 last year as part of Operation Branchform, an investigation which has cast a shadow over the party that governed Scotland for 17 years.
Police Scotland confirmed that a 59-year-old man, who was arrested for questioning on Thursday morning, was charged in the evening with alleged misappropriation of funds from the Scottish National Party and released. A report will be sent to the public prosecutor in due course, the force added.
Murrell, who resigned after a long tenure with the SNP in March 2023, was the first of three arrests made last year in connection with the investigation, which later extended to former party treasurer Colin Beattie and Sturgeon . All three were released without charge at the time.
Television images of police setting up a tent and screens outside Murrell and Sturgeon’s home in Glasgow have fueled a political firestorm that has cast a shadow over the tenure of his successor, Prime Minister Humza Yousaf.
Police declined to comment further. The SNP said it would be inappropriate to comment.
The investigation, launched in 2021, focused on complaints that party donations given during fundraising appeals for the 2017 and 2019 independence referendums were spent on other things.
While the SNP said more than £600,000 had been reserved for a referendum campaign, the Independent Electoral Commission said the party had less than £100,000 in cash and equivalents.
Further questions were also raised about a £107,620 loan given by Murrell to the party in 2021 for working capital purposes.
Scottish Labor deputy leader Jackie Baillie said the new arrest was another “incredibly worrying development” in a long-running investigation.
Scottish Conservative president Craig Hoy described Murrell’s re-arrest as an “extremely serious development”.