Humza Yousaf quizzed on arrest of SNP treasurer Colin Beattie
SNP leader Humza Yousaf was dubbed a “lame duck” of a party “mired by scandal” by Labour leader Anas Sarwar outside Holyrood yesterday.
The criticism came as the party’s treasurer Colin Beattie — who has been at the heart of the SNP for around 20 years — was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the Scottish Police’s probe into the party’s funding and finances. The former banker was later released without charge.
His arrest follows that of the ex-chief executive and Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, who was arrested and also released without charge pending further investigation.
Here, Express.co.uk takes a look at the timeline of events in what is one of British politics’ biggest financial scandals since the cash-for-honours drama of 2006 and 2007.
2017 – 2020: The build-up to the police investigation
Between 2017 and 2020, the party raised some £666,953 which was meant to go towards another Independence referendum and a campaign. But at the end of 2019, there was just under £97,000 in the bank.
It then emerged Mr Murrell, husband of the former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, had loaned the SNP £107,620 in June 2021 which the party said was to help with its “cash flow” issue.
This loan was reportedly late to the Electoral Commission. Two repayments were made later in 2021 by the SNP but £60,000 was still outstanding.
2021: Operation Branchform launched
A police investigation into the SNP’s finances was then launched in 2021 as Police Scotland had received complaints from at least 19 people with it being alleged that money had been diverted from the Independence “ring-fenced” fund.
In the months leading up to the investigation, three senior members of the party’s National Executive Committee resigned, including Treasurer Douglas Chapman and MP Joanna Cherry. Mr Chapman said that a lack of transparency had stopped him from being able to carry out his “fiduciary duties”.
October 2022: Auditors quit
“Round about October last year” the SNP’s auditors quit. Johnston Carmichael stopped doing the SNP’s finances some six months ago unbeknownst to Mr Yousaf, who made the revelation earlier this month. He added that he could not “comment on what was done prior to me becoming a leader of the SNP”.
February 2023: Sturgeon resigns
In February this year, Ms Sturgeon shocked the nation by announcing that she would be resigning after eight years as First Minister because the job “could only be done for so long”.
After she resigned, she was questioned about the ongoing investigation but indicated that she had not been interviewed by the police.
March 2023: Sturgeon’s husband quits
Then, when the leadership bid was ongoing, Mr Murrell, who had been the SNP’s chief executive for a quarter of a century, quit after a row over the transparency of membership numbers.
The SNP media chief Murray Foote also resigned following the same row where he was accused of misleading a journalist over the true membership figures but said he had acted in “good faith”. Mr Murrell took responsibility for the figures.
On March 29, Mr Yousaf — who was described as Ms Sturgeon’s continuity candidate — was sworn in as the new party leader and First Minister.
April 2023: Sturgeon’s husband arrested
Then, on April 5, the investigation — named Operation Branchform — went up a notch.
Mr Murrell was arrested and released after 12 hours in custody, “pending further investigation”. Scottish police were seen searching the Glasgow home he shares with Ms Sturgeon.
Mr Yousaf denied claims that the SNP and police had been “in cahoots” over the timing of Mr Murrell’s arrest, saying: “To me, that sounds like a bit of a conspiracy theory that somehow we are in cahoots with Police Scotland. The timing of an investigation is absolutely for Police Scotland, that’s not determined by anybody else.”
Part of the search saw police carrying spades to the black garden and setting up blue forensic tents in the couple’s front garden. The SNP’s Edinburgh offices were searched simultaneously.
Additionally, a £100,000 luxury motorhome owned by the SNP was seized from Ms Sturgeon’s mother-in-law’s home. Insiders told the Telegraph that the vehicle was bought before the pandemic to be used in the 2021 spring Holyrood election campaign.
Mid-April 2023: Sturgeon video leaked and Beattie arrested
In the past few days, Ms Sturgeon has been facing mounting pressure to quit as a video was leaked which seems to show her trying to quash scrutiny over the party’s finances in March 2021.
In the clip, said to have been recorded at a meeting of the party’s ruling body, Ms Sturgeon said officials should be “very careful” about suggesting there were “any problems” with party accounts.
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It was also reported over the weekend that detectives investigating the party’s finances had been handed emails of the former First Minister which allegedly show her shutting down the proposal to bring a fundraising manager on board.
The SNP’s ruling body, the National Executive Committee, met on Saturday, April 16, and has now ordered a review of transparency which includes an examination of the way the party is managed.
Then, on Tuesday, April 18, Mr Beattie was arrested “in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the SNP”. The MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, who was the treasurer between 2004 and 2020, was released without charge.
In response to the news, Mr Yousaf said that he was “surprised” and described it as “a very serious matter indeed”.
What next?
Mr Yousaf is refusing to suspend senior figures caught up in the investigation and is now receiving backlash from his party, including from his former leadership rivals.
The party’s former finance secretary, Kate Forbes, has now told the BBC that the party “will be in trouble” unless it takes “decisive action”.
She said: “We are at a pretty critical moment – and it will be the response and the reaction that determines how big a problem this is for the SNP.”
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