Call for Holyrood and Westminster to hold joint inquiry into Murrell crimes

A significant story is unfolding on the international scene. Call for Holyrood and Westminster to hold joint inquiry into Murrell crimes1 hour ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleJames Cook ,Scotland editorandAngus Cochrane ,Senior political journalist, ScotlandGetty ImagesPeter Murrell has admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP The UK and Scottish parliaments should hold a joint inquiry into Peter Murrell's financial crimes, former Labour first minister Jack McConnell has said. Murrell, the ex-SNP chief executive and estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon, pleaded guilty last week to embezzling more than £400,000 from the party over 12 years. Lord McConnell called for Westminster's Public Accounts Committee and Holyrood's Public Audit Committee to look into the scandal together.

It came after Sturgeon, speaking to the 's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, denied covering up problems in the party's finances or having any knowledge or Murrell's wrongdoing. McConnell, who was first minister from 2001 until 2007, told Radio Scotland Breakfast he "would like to see the two parliaments coming together" to investigate the embezzlement. The peer said a standalone Holyrood inquiry might be seen as presiding over a "cover up", while a Westminster one might be perceived as carrying out "a hatchet job" on the SNP.

The Details

Sturgeon tells : I'm serving a sentence for crime I didn't commitSwinney rejects call for Holyrood inquiry into MurrellLord McConnell said a joint probe should look into whether the relationship between Scotland's prosecution service – the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) – and politicians in the Scottish government had become too close. He also said it should examine whether public funds provided to the SNP at Westminster were involved in the embezzlement and whether safeguards should be introduced for small donors to political parties and movements. "Let's get to the bottom of this and let's ensure that political parties and political movements in the future and perhaps also the governance of Scotland in relation to the legal system are protected in the interests of the public," he said.

Opposition MSPs raised concerns about the role of Scotland's top law officer, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain, after it emerged she told First Minister John Swinney details about Murrell's charge almost a year before they became public. Bain - who has a dual role as head of the prosecution service and the government's chief legal adviser - defended her conduct, saying she had no role in the prosecution and that the disclosure to Swinney was standard practice in high-profile cases. It is not clear how a joint inquiry would work in practice as there has never been one in the 27 years since the devolved Scottish Parliament opened.

There have also been calls for separate Holyrood and Westminster inquiries.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.