TWO whistleblowers have said they were bullied by Nicola Sturgeon and SNP chiefs after sounding the alarm on her crooked hubby and the party’s fraud-hit finances
Allison Graham and Cynthia Guthrie quit as SNP finance watchdogs in 2021 after being obstructed by £400,000 embezzler boss Peter Murrell and others.
Sign up for the Politics newsletter
Thank you!
The SNP whistleblowers claim Nicola Sturgeon bullied them when they tried to sound the alarm
Peter Murrell, who was jailed this week for more than five years over his £400k embezzlement Credit: PA
SNP Whistleblower Allison Graham said the “toxic” meeting was like “being bullied”. Credit: Andrew Barr
SNP whistleblower Cynthia Guthrie quit as Nats finance watchdog along with Ms Graham
Speaking about a “toxic” meeting where Ms Sturgeon warned her not to question SNP finances, Ms Graham said: “It was like being bullied in the playground.“
The pair blamed Ms Sturgeon and John Swinney for for “enabling” Peter Murrell’s £400,000 SNP fraud.
The former party finance officials say the pair rubbished their concerns about discrepancies with the books under Ms Sturgeon’s thieving husband.
In a bombshell interview with The Scottish Sun, they also revealed shock details of a private meeting during which Ms Graham says she was belittled and “bullied” by Ms Sturgeon and her Nats’ cronies.
THROW BOOK AT NIC
Sturgeon’s ‘last shred of credibility DESTROYED’ by new Branchform photos
PLUNDER PICS
Images of Peter Murrell’s illicit haul released by prosecutors
It came after the two women had warned that Murrell — caged for more than five years on Tuesday — was blocking their attempts to get basic access to account details. And far from the “huge amount of scrutiny of party finances” claimed by Mr Swinney, they said Murrell had effectively been handed “a blank cheque” to embezzle.
Ms Guthrie said both the First Minister and Ms Sturgeon were “culpable” as they misled SNP members and the public.
She added: “Intentionally or not intentionally, it’s not for me to say.
“But they were prepared to stand up and say whatever, authoritatively, to the public.”
Most read in The Scottish Sun
Sturgeon, Swinney & SNP respond
JOHN Swinney insisted he’d done nothing wrong amid the Peter Murrell scandal – as Nicola Sturgeon stayed silent on the latest revelations.
The First Minister has claimed the SNP were hoodwinked by their ex SNP chief exec, and rejected whistleblower claims that his statements at the time enabled the criminality.
The Scottish Sun asked the SNP to respond on behalf of Mr Swinney and the national executive committee members to Ms Graham and Ms Guthrie’s anger.
An SNP spokesperson said: “John Swinney did not hold any position within the party, and was not a member of the party’s NEC, during the time in question.
“When asked about these issues, Mr Swinney was simply setting out the expectations any party member would have about the financial scrutiny that is provided for under the SNP rules.
“Under the leadership of John Swinney, the party has undergone significant reform of its governance procedures.
“As business convener, Kirsten Oswald was committed to transparency and she ensured that updates from NEC meetings were displayed on the party website following meetings.
“The criminal wrongdoing of Peter Murrell was uncovered by a complex and extensive police investigation years after the events in question. The SNP was the victim of that wrongdoing.”
We also put the claims to Ms Sturgeon’s lawyer, Aamer Anwar. He said: “My client will not be commenting.” But he stressed that Ms Sturgeon denied enabling any criminality.
Find out what’s really going on
Register now for our free weekly politics newsletter for an insightful and irreverent look at the (sometimes excruciating) world of Scottish Politics.
Every Thursday our hotshot politics team goes behind the headlines to bring you a rundown of key events – plus insights and gossip from the corridors of power, including a ‘Plonker’ and ‘Star’ of the Week.
Sign up now and make sure you don’t miss a beat. The politicians would hate that.
Business analyst Ms Graham and HR executive Ms Guthrie held unpaid roles on the SNP’s finance and audit committee in 2021 — and were cited to be Crown witnesses had Murrell not pled guilty, avoiding a trial.
The women told how they were staggered to see Ms Sturgeon and Mr Swinney make public statements dismissing issues as cops began their criminal investigation.
Both made repeated public statements in 2021 that money had not gone missing from the SNP.
It came amid claims the party had defrauded donors by spending £482,000 of crowdfunded cash that had been “ring fenced” in 2017 for a future independence referendum.
Police later uncovered Murrell’s myriad of fraudulent purchases — from a £124,550 motorhome to three toilet brushes — using SNP money over a 12-year period.
Ms Graham and Ms Guthrie said they and former Edinburgh Lord Provost Frank Ross were obstructed by Murrell and other party HQ chiefs when they tried to scrutinise SNP income and expenditure.
They told how they were given only snippets of information on screen in meetings — with Mr Ross clocking at one point the SNP’s 2020 budget “was out by £1.51million”.
They flagged Murrell’s odd behaviour in online meetings, including an occasion when he was asked about the indy donations.
The statement read out by whistleblower Allison Graham which sparked attack from Nicola Sturgeon and others
Nicola Sturgeon with Peter Murrell Credit: Getty
Ms Guthrie said: “He looked to the mid-distance and pointed and he said, ‘I can see it!’
“He was kind of throwing his arms up, as if you could see it.” Ms Graham and Ms Guthrie told of “filibustering”, “distraction” and “sleight of hand” in the meetings.
They added that other committee members did not appear interested in scrutiny. Ms Graham said: “They were asking us to sign a blank cheque because Peter Murrell told us everything was fine.
“I was like, ‘We cannot do that in good faith for ourselves, reputationally, and from a liability point of view, but also for the members’.”
The two women and Mr Ross quit the committee after just two months due to being “blocked”.
In a resignation statement during a party national executive committee Zoom video meeting on March 20, 2021, Ms Graham warned of “obvious procrastination” by Murrell.
She highlighted a failure to give basic information and said they had been given contradictory information and had “no way” of providing “scrutiny and governance”.
The response from a string of NEC members — including Ms Sturgeon — was to round on her, as shown by text chat screengrabs.
Sir Keir call for SNP inquiry
SIR Keir Starmer said the SNP must allow a probe into how Murrell’s crimes went undetected for 12 years.
The PM made the call in response to Scots Tory MP John Lamont asked for a UK inquiry into the devolved matter because the law allows for one in the “public interest”.
Sir Keir said at PMQs: “The SNP calls for transparency and accountability for everybody else.
“But when they have giant questions to answer it’s nothing to see here, don’t want to know, don’t want to have an inquiry Totally wrong approach.”
Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee has support for a probe there.
But their preference is for a Holyrood one, which was voted down by the SNP and Greens.
Fury over ‘awkward squad’
ALLISON Graham and Cynthia Guthrie are furious about being branded members of an “awkward squad” in the SNP ranks.
The pair ended up quitting the Nats and joining Alex Salmond’s Alba party after resigning from their financial watchdog roles in 2021.
Ms Graham said: “Asking questions isn’t ‘awkward’ — they chose to label us rather than listen to us.”
And Ms Guthrie added: “To call us the ‘awkward squad’, I take offence to that, I’m sorry. I think that’s ridiculous.”
The pair said if they had been motivated by politics they could have spoken up at any point in the past five years.
Ms Graham said: “We didn’t because it was not the right thing to do.”
Ms Graham said Ian Cockburn, a Highland councillor at the time, launched a “verbal attack”.
She said: “It made me feel like I was a daft wee lassie.” But Ms Sturgeon replied in the online chat: “Well said, Ian.”
SNP Glasgow councillor Graham Campbell told Ms Graham in the chat: “You should not have been allowed to read that out.”
And Heather Anderson, who is now an SNP MSP, suggested a “new hashtag I’mwithIan”.
Ms Graham said: “It was overwhelming. It was just like a torrent. I’m not a shy, retiring individual but this was like being bullied in the playground. It felt as if you were being kicked.”
Ms Sturgeon then infamously told the meeting: “I’m not going to get into the details but, you know, just be very careful about suggestions that there are problems with the party’s finances, because we depend on donors to donate. There are no reasons for people to be concerned about the party’s finances.”
Ms Graham said: “Nicola came in very clearly to shut it down. She was using her positional authority to demean what I said.
“It was like, ‘I’m the First Minister, I know better’.” Ms Graham added: “Nobody backed me up.
“I was very lonely. The police asked me, ‘Why do you think it was?’ I said, ‘Well, it was a very toxic environment. I was the head on the stick’. It’s bullying at the end of the day.” Asked if she was bullied by Ms Sturgeon, she replied: “Bullied by them all.”
The whistleblowers are angry the SNP’s ex-business convener Kirsten Oswald — now an MSP and victims’ minister — failed to properly record their resignation statement.
Ms Guthrie said: “Why did she fail to include the statement in the meeting minutes? Because that would have been seen by the external auditors and raised a red flag.”
Ms Graham and Ms Guthrie say an independent inquiry into SNP financial governance is essential.
They insist that when concerns were raised, Ms Sturgeon should have ordered a probe by a forensic accountant and this would have exposed Murrell’s fraud.
Instead, Ms Sturgeon and her then Deputy First Minister, Mr Swinney, defended the governance of party finances. In an STV interview in June 2021, Ms Sturgeon said: “Money hasn’t gone missing.”
In July that year, after Police Scotland launched Operation Branchform, Mr Swinney told the BBC accounts were audited and “all of these functions of good governance and statute are followed”,
Since Murrell’s conviction, he has claimed the “systems were robust but they were circumvented”.
However, Ms Graham and Ms Guthrie said he and Ms Sturgeon had fuelled criminality by claiming there was nothing amiss.
Ms Guthrie said: “They were enablers.” Ms Graham added: “She failed in her duty as party leader and there’s zero accountability and there’s zero humility.
“They had the power to do something about it and they chose not to. And that for me is critical.”