Bowie demands Westminster probe into Murrell affair – Daily Business

Andrew Bowie: probe required (pic: DB Media Services)

Shadow Scottish Secretary Andrew Bowie has today called for inquiry into the financial governance failings that allowed Peter Murrell to plunder £400,000 from SNP accounts.

Mr Bowie has urged the chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee, Patricia Ferguson, to investigate the scandal after John Swinney refused to countenance such a move at Holyrood.

The Scottish Conservative MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine said the shortcomings that enabled the SNP’s former chief executive to get away with embezzling funds over several years to pay for a motorhome, cars and luxury household goods must be examined so that lessons can be learned by all political parties.

In a statement issued to the media, Mr Bowie described it as “strange and sinister” that Swinney would seek to block a Scottish Parliament inquiry into the actions of Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband, given that he has framed the SNP as the victim of Murrell’s crimes

“John Swinney’s refusal to sanction a Holyrood inquiry into this scandal means it falls to Westminster to examine the failings in financial governance that allowed Peter Murrell to steal from SNP accounts for years,” said Mr Bowie.

“I have written to the chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee requesting a probe because there were clearly systemic failings that Murrell exploited. These need to be identified and addressed so that lessons are learned – not just by the SNP but by all political parties.

Andrew Bowie’s letter to the committee

“It’s strange and sinister that Swinney is opposed to an inquiry. If, as he says, the SNP is the victim in this, then surely he’d want to know exactly how and why the party was fleeced by Murrell?

“A cynic might think he has something to hide, given he and Nicola Sturgeon sought to silence internal whistleblowers who first raised concerns about the state of the party’s finances.

“But SNP donors deserve answers – and so do taxpayers, as it appears public money was in the pot that Murrell stole from to feather the marital nest he shared with Sturgeon.”

He adds that “recent reporting has raised serious concerns about the potential involvement of taxpayer-funded monies.

“It has been suggested that, during the period in question, the SNP received significant sums through public grants, including policy development funding distributed via the Electoral Commission, which may have been pooled with other party resources. This raises the prospect that public money could have been exposed to misuse alongside party funds.

“While the precise extent of this risk remains unclear, the mere possibility that taxpayer funds may have been implicated significantly heightens the public interest in this matter and strengthens the case for thorough parliamentary scrutiny.”]

Peter Murrell: due to be sentenced

Mr Bowie is mindful of the role of the committee – to scrutinise the work of the UK Government but says: “Given the Committee’s remit to examine issues affecting Scotland and to scrutinise matters of public administration and governance, it is well placed to assess the implications of this case.

“While the criminal justice process has rightly addressed individual culpability, it does not answer the wider institutional questions that this case raises. Indeed, the existence of a five-year police investigation culminating in a guilty plea does not negate the need for parliamentary scrutiny; rather, it strengthens the case for understanding how such failings were able to occur in the first place.”

Ms Sturgeon yesterday spoke of “probably the worst week of my life” following the reaction to her husband’s guilty plea in the High Court on Monday.

He will be sentenced on 23 June when he is expected to receive a prison term of between four and six years.

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