{"id":747424,"date":"2026-08-23T18:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T18:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/747424\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T18:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T18:54:08","slug":"decision-not-to-charge-nicola-sturgeon-merits-scrutiny-watchdog-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/747424\/","title":{"rendered":"Decision not to charge Nicola Sturgeon ‘merits scrutiny’, watchdog says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n In an interview with The Times<\/a>, Scottish Information Commissioner David Hamilton<\/a> said there had \u201cnever\u201d been more questions about decisions made by prosecutors at the Crown Office.\n<\/p>\n

\n Police Scotland<\/a> investigated the SNP\u2019s finances for more than four years in Operation Branchform, which was launched following questions about what had happened to \u00a3600,000 raised by the party and \u201cring-fenced\u201d to fight a second independence referendum.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE: 11 key points from police’s confidential Operation Branchform briefing<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Ultimately, detectives uncovered embezzlement committed by former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell over a 12-year period and secured a guilty plea. Murrell was jailed for five years in June<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n However, police said they did not find enough evidence of fraud to charge anyone with the crime<\/a>. Prosecutors have said that a fraud case would have depended on demonstrating that any individual who solicited funds for the indyref campaign did so with the specific intention of defrauding contributors.\n<\/p>\n

\n In August 2024, police submitted a request to the Crown Office for advice and guidance on Sturgeon. It did not seek prosecution for embezzlement or fraud, but focused on whether there should be further investigation, officials said previously.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Crown Office has also said that the decision not to charge Sturgeon was not marginal or finely balanced, and that the conclusion had been considered independently by a KC.\n<\/p>\n

\n Stuart Campbell runs the Wings Over Scotland blog (Image: Archive)\n<\/p>\n

\n However, Wings Over Scotland blogger Stuart Campbell has been pushing for police to re-open the investigation into the SNP over the \u00a3600,000 raised for a second referendum campaign, pointing to First Minister John Swinney\u2019s admission in June that the money had been spent on the day-to-day expenses of the SNP<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n Campbell has threatened to take Police Scotland to court over the case, with his lawyers alleging that the force had not given \u201cproper, intelligible, and adequate reasons for declining to investigate\u201d<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n Speaking to The Times, the Scottish Information Commissioner said he was \u201cnot particularly confident that the likes of Stuart Campbell is going to go away quietly\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Hamilton said: \u201cThe Crown Office is an interesting one, because never more has there been questions about some of their decisions.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE: Two island community organisation face bankruptcy after legal row with American<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cNow, I\u2019m not saying they\u2019re the wrong decisions. But \u2018no, we\u2019re not telling you\u2019 is not a good look.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cAnd when they did say some things it went contrary to what Police Scotland were saying, which raises interesting questions.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThese are totally conflicting versions of events, which merits further scrutiny.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n The Scottish Information Commissioner has powers to overrule public bodies on Freedom of Information laws, forcing the publication of materials which have previously been withheld.\n<\/p>\n

\n Hamilton told the Times that he is expecting a number of cases linked to Operation Branchform to cross his desk after the statutory time limits to request information and appeal refusals.\n<\/p>\n

\n The August 2024 police advice and guidance request to the Crown Office is expected to be sought under Freedom of Information laws, as well as Sturgeon\u2019s written statement to the police.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"NicolaFormer first minister Nicola Sturgeon was not charged with any crime following a four-year police probe into the SNP (Image: Nicola Sturgeon)\n<\/p>\n

\n The former first minister had previously said she would publish the statement, and police have said that she is free to do so. However, Sturgeon\u2019s lawyer in July said the statement would not be made public.\n<\/p>\n

\n A Crown Office spokesperson said that detailed information about the investigation into the SNP had already been published on the service\u2019s website<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n They went on: \u201cWe recognise the public are interested in understanding how criminal cases are investigated and prosecuted. At the same time, the justice system depends on information being considered within a confidential process.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cEvidence that is used in court enters the public domain. Other material may not form part of criminal proceedings and remains subject to important legal protections.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThose safeguards help protect fairness and maintain confidence in the integrity of the system.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an interview with The Times, Scottish Information Commissioner David Hamilton said there had \u201cnever\u201d been more questions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-747424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}