<\/p>\n
Andrew Bowie: probe required (pic: DB Media Services)<\/p>\n
Shadow Scottish Secretary Andrew Bowie has today called for inquiry into the financial governance failings that allowed Peter Murrell to plunder \u00a3400,000 from SNP accounts.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The Scottish Conservative MP for West Aberdeenshire and\u00a0Kincardine said the shortcomings that enabled the SNP\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued to the media, Mr Bowie described it as \u201cstrange and sinister\u201d that Swinney would seek to block a Scottish Parliament inquiry into the actions of Nicola Sturgeon\u2019s estranged husband, given that he has framed the SNP as the victim of Murrell\u2019s crimes<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn Swinney\u2019s 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,\u201d said Mr Bowie.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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 \u2013 not just by the SNP but by all political parties.<\/p>\n
Andrew Bowie\u2019s letter to the committee<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s strange and sinister that Swinney is opposed to an inquiry. If, as he says, the SNP is the victim in this, then surely he\u2019d want to know exactly how and why the party was fleeced by Murrell?<\/p>\n
\u201cA 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\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut SNP donors deserve answers \u2013 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
He adds that \u201crecent reporting has raised serious concerns about the potential involvement of taxpayer-funded monies. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile 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.\u201d]<\/p>\n
Peter Murrell: due to be sentenced<\/p>\n
Mr Bowie is mindful of the role of the committee \u2013 to scrutinise the\u00a0work\u00a0of the UK Government but says: \u201cGiven the Committee\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Sturgeon yesterday spoke of \u201cprobably the worst week of my life\u201d following the reaction to her husband\u2019s guilty plea in the High Court on Monday.<\/p>\n
He will be sentenced on 23 June when he is expected to receive a prison term of between four and six years.<\/p>\n
\t #Bowie #demands #Westminster #probe #Murrell #affair #Daily #Business<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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