SNP treasurer Colin Beattie has been arrested in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National Party.
Police Scotland revealed this morning that the 71-year-old had been held by detectives probing what happened to more than £600,000 in donations to the party.
It comes a fortnight after Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell, the former party chief executive, was arrested and then released.
Officers also searched their Glasgow family home and the party headquarters in Edinburgh.
Mr Beattie has been the MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh since 2011. His arrest is another blow for new SNP First Minister Humza Yousaf, who was hoping to move on from the crisis today.
This afternoon he will set out the priorities for his premiership in his first major policy statement at Holyrood since he took over from Ms Sturgeon.
Mr Beattie has been the MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh since 2011.
It comes a fortnight after Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell, the former party chief executive, was arrested and then released.
His arrest is another blow for new SNP First Minister Humza Yousaf, who was hoping to move on from the crisis today.
The First Minister, who narrowly won the SNP leadership election last month, will use a statement to the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday to set out what he wants his Government to deliver over the next three years.
A Police Scotland statement said: ‘A 71-year-old man has today, Tuesday, 18 April 2023, been arrested as a suspect in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National Party.
‘The man is in custody and is being questioned by Police Scotland detectives.’
The SNP is being investigated over donations of more than £600,000 it received between 2017 and 2020 to bankroll a new attempt to split the United Kingdom.
Questions have been raised over what happened to that money after Boris Johnson, as prime minister, blocked the new vote.
SNP accounts showed it had less than £100,000 in the bank at the end of 2019, plus assets of £272,000.
An investigation was launched in July 2021 after complaints were received. Detectives are looking at claims that the cash was diverted elsewhere.
Mr Murrell was the party’s chief executive from 1999 until he resigned in the middle of the leadership election to replace his wife last month.
In May 2021 MP Douglas Chapman resigned from his role as the party’s treasurer, saying he had not been given enough information to do his job. Joanna Cherry, a vocal internal critic of the party’s leadership, also resigned from her role on the national executive committee (NEC).
Mr Murrell and Ms Sturgeon have faced questions over an interest-free loan he made to the party.
Mr Murrell gave £107,620 to the party to ‘assist with cashflow’ on June 20, 2021, Electoral Commission documents revealed in December.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: ‘This is yet another deeply concerning development and the Police Scotland investigation must be allowed to proceed without interference.
‘For too long, a culture of secrecy and cover-up has been allowed to fester at the heart of the SNP.
‘And while the investigation spreads, the SNP is still refusing to take the basic step of suspending MSPs who are the subject of police inquiries.
‘Humza Yousaf’s inaction raises questions – is his priority the cover up to protect the SNP or the people of Scotland?’
Mr Yousaf’s statement, which will be accompanied by a policy paper, is expected to fall under three key themes of equality, opportunity and community – building on the Scottish Government’s legislative agenda in the Programme for Government and the Bute House Agreement.
Mr Yousaf, who said he had ‘promised to lead Scotland in the interests of all our people’, added: ‘My cabinet has considered how we can build a better future for Scotland and the outcomes necessary to achieve that.
‘Through a determined focus on reducing poverty and strengthening public services, seizing the opportunity to build a growing and green wellbeing economy through the net zero transition and supporting business, and reaffirming our commitment to equality, inclusion, and human rights in everything we do.
‘We will do so using the powers of devolution to their maximum, whilst making the case that as an independent nation, we can do so much more to make Scotland a wealthier, fairer, and greener country.’
Since being made First Minister around three weeks ago, Mr Yousaf said, his Government had ‘tripled our support for households struggling with high energy bills with our £30 million fuel insecurity fund, announced an additional £25 million to help the north east become the net zero capital of the world, and reinforced our commitment to supporting families with a £15 million investment in free high-quality school age childcare’.
He said the measures would ‘make a real difference’ and had come as a response ‘to the challenges presented by our ongoing recovery from the Covid pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis exacerbated by Brexit and the UK Government’s economic mismanagement, as well as climate change impacts and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’.
