Sturgeon showed 'remarkable lack of curiosity' over SNP finances, says former MP

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Sturgeon showed 'remarkable lack of curiosity' over SNP finances, Cherry says6 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleBenjamin RussellPA MediaJoanna Cherry said she flagged concerns about party finances in 2019A former SNP MP has called for an independent inquiry into how former chief executive Peter Murrell was able to embezzle more than £400,000. Joanna Cherry also accused former first minister Nicola Sturgeon - Murrell's estranged wife - of having shown "a remarkable lack of curiosity" over concerns regarding party finances. She told Radio Scotland Breakfast that she wanted answers about why efforts to investigate allegations of financial mismanagement were "frustrated" by party chiefs.

Sturgeon – who was arrested as part of the police investigation into SNP finances but later told she would face no further action – said she had "no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever" about Murrell's crime. More on this storyHow long could Peter Murrell spend in prison? 'I'm the man with the money,' Murrell told Shetland jewellerFormer SNP chief executive Peter Murrell in custody after admitting £400,000 embezzlementCherry resigned from the SNP's ruling body in 2021 due to concerns about transparency.

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She said: "I would like to see a properly independent inquiry into how this was allowed to happen and in particular into why the efforts of those of us who were elected to get to the bottom of the party's governance and financial mismanagement were frustrated from doing so, and frustrated from doing so in pretty unpleasant circumstances. "She told the : "It wasn't just that we didn't get an answer to our questions - we were demonised for asking the questions and one by one we all resigned from the national executive committee. "There just seemed to be a remarkable lack of curiosity on the part of Nicola Sturgeon and other members of the national executive committee at that time - some of whom are now members of the Scottish Parliament and I think they have questions to answer as well.

"Cherry said she had first raised concerns in 2019 over money that had been donated to a ring-fenced fund that had been set up by the SNP to raise money for a second independence referendum. She said the fund, amounting to about £600,000, "appeared to have been spent on other things". The former MP said she and a number of colleagues had stood for election to senior positions within the SNP "on a specific manifesto of getting to the bottom of what had happened to that money and also improving the internal governance of the party".

"Nicola Sturgeon ran that party with a rod of iron, hand and glove with her husband," she said. "There was very little transparency and those of us who asked questions were treated as traitors to the party. " Cherry claimed her colleagues on the finance and audit committee found that Murrell was "refusing to show them the books", while questions asked by the national executive committee were met with a "brick wall".

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