Husband of former Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon charged with embezzling party funds
- Peter Murrell was charged with embezzlement of funds from Sturgeon’s pro-independence Scottish National Party, the BBC and other media reported
- Murrell, former SNP chief executive, was previously arrested in April 2023. Investigation centres on missing funds of US$754,140, raised in 2017
The husband of former Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon was charged on Thursday with embezzlement in an investigation into the finances of Scotland’s pro-independence governing party.
Police in Scotland said a 59-year-old man was charged after being arrested and taken into custody earlier in the day. He was released after being charged, the force said.
While police did not name the suspect, the details provided matched up with Peter Murrell, the party’s former chief executive who was arrested just over a year ago.
Scottish police have been investigating how £600,000 (US$750,000) earmarked for a Scottish independence campaign were spent. Murrell, Sturgeon and Colin Beattie, the Scottish National Party’s former treasurer, were arrested and questioned last year in the investigation but released without being charged with a crime.
Murrell’s first arrest came soon after Sturgeon’s stunning announcement in February 2023 that she was resigning her post after eight years as party leader and first minister of Scotland’s semi-autonomous government.