Police Scotland has released SNP treasurer Colin Beattie pending further investigations after quizzing him for 12 hours over the party’s funding and finances when Nicola Sturgeon was in charge.
Mr Beattie, 71, the MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, was being held by detectives probing what happened to more than £600,000 in donations to the Scottish National Party.
His release comes after First Minister Humza Yousaf denied the SNP had been operating in a ‘criminal way’ earlier today.
The First Minister said he was ‘surprised’ that Police Scotland had detained Mr Beattie this morning and it was ‘far from ideal’ on a day he was hoping to reset his young leadership.
A spokesman for the force said: ‘A 71-year-old man who was arrested earlier today, Tuesday, 18 April 2023, as a suspect in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National Party, has been released without charge pending further investigation.
‘The man was questioned by Police Scotland detectives. A report will be sent to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
The First Minister said he was ‘surprised’ that Police Scotland had detained MSP Colin Beattie this morning and it was ‘far from ideal’ on a day he was hoping to reset his young leadership
Police Scotland have released SNP treasurer Colin Beattie pending further enquiries after quizzing him for 12 hours over finances when Nicola Sturgeon was in charge
Asked if the SNP was acting in a ‘criminal way’ he said: ‘ I don’t believe it is.’
It comes a fortnight after Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell, the former party chief executive, was arrested and then released
‘The matter remains active for the purposes of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 and the public are therefore advised to exercise caution if discussing it on social media.
‘As the investigation is ongoing we are unable to comment further.’
Sky News reports that Mr Beattie arrived back at his home in his own vehicle around 30 minutes after being released on another difficult day for the SNP.
It comes a fortnight after Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell, the party’s former chief executive, was arrested and then released.
Officers also searched their Glasgow family home and the SNP headquarters in Edinburgh.
Mr Yousaf arrived at Holyrood this afternoon ahead of his first major statement to MSPs as First Minister.
Asked if the SNP was acting in a ‘criminal way’ he told reporters: ‘I don’t believe it is.’
He added that he had been unable to speak to Mr Beattie as he was still being detailed by police.
But Meghan Gallacher, the deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives, told Holyrood the SNP was in ‘meltdown’.
‘The FM makes this statement today as scandal continues to engulf his party,’ she said.
‘The SNP is in total meltdown. Its former chief executive and now its current treasurer have been arrested amid a police investigation into the party’s finances.
‘Leaked footage has shown Nicola Sturgeon trying to shut down scrutiny mere months before the investigation began. Yet Humza Yousaf is so indebted to his former mentors that he will not do the right thing and suspend them while the investigation is ongoing.’
Mr Yousaf had hoped that setting out the priorities for his premiership in his first major policy statement would help move the party on.
The First Minister, who narrowly won the SNP leadership election last month, used a statement to the Scottish Parliament to set out what he wants his government to deliver over the next three years.
But he immediately rowed back on two key SNP plans. Scotland’s deposit return scheme (DRS) for bottles has been pushed back to March 2024 amid complaints from businesses. A plan to tighten alcohol advertising rules has also been restarted.
The SNP is being investigated over donations of more than £600,000 it received between 2017 and 2020 to bankroll a new attempt to split the United Kingdom.
Questions have been raised over what happened to that money after Boris Johnson, as prime minister, blocked the new vote.
SNP accounts showed it had less than £100,000 in the bank at the end of 2019, plus assets of £272,000.
Mr Beattie arrived back at his home in his own vehicle around 30 minutes after being released on another difficult day for the SNP. Pictured: Mr Beattie’s constituency office in Dalkeith
His arrest was another blow for new SNP First Minister Humza Yousaf, who was hoping to move on from the crisis today
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An investigation was launched in July 2021 after complaints were made. Detectives are looking at claims that the cash was diverted elsewhere.
Mr Murrell was the party’s chief executive from 1999 until he resigned in the middle of the leadership election last month.
In May 2021 MP Douglas Chapman resigned from his role as treasurer, saying he had not been given enough information to do his job. Joanna Cherry, a vocal internal critic of the party’s leadership, also resigned from her role on the national executive committee (NEC).
Mr Murrell and Ms Sturgeon have faced questions over an interest-free loan he made to the party.
Mr Murrell gave £107,620 to the party to ‘assist with cashflow’ on June 20, 2021, Electoral Commission documents revealed in December.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: ‘This is yet another deeply concerning development and the Police Scotland investigation must be allowed to proceed without interference.
‘For too long, a culture of secrecy and cover-up has been allowed to fester at the heart of the SNP.
‘And while the investigation spreads, the SNP is still refusing to take the basic step of suspending MSPs who are the subject of police inquiries.
Mr Murrell and Ms Sturgeon (pictured in 2019) have faced questions over an interest-free loan he made to the party
‘Humza Yousaf’s inaction raises questions – is his priority the cover up to protect the SNP or the people of Scotland?’
Mr Yousaf’s statement, which will be accompanied by a policy paper, is expected to fall under three key themes of equality, opportunity and community – building on the Scottish Government’s legislative agenda in the programme for government and the Bute House agreement.
Mr Yousaf, who said he had ‘promised to lead Scotland in the interests of all our people’, added: ‘My cabinet has considered how we can build a better future for Scotland and the outcomes necessary to achieve that.
‘Through a determined focus on reducing poverty and strengthening public services, seizing the opportunity to build a growing and green wellbeing economy through the net zero transition and supporting business, and reaffirming our commitment to equality, inclusion, and human rights in everything we do.
‘We will do so using the powers of devolution to their maximum, whilst making the case that as an independent nation, we can do so much more to make Scotland a wealthier, fairer, and greener country.’
Since being made First Minister around three weeks ago, Mr Yousaf said, his government had ‘tripled our support for households struggling with high energy bills with our £30million fuel insecurity fund, announced an additional £25million to help the north east become the net zero capital of the world, and reinforced our commitment to supporting families with a £15million investment in free high-quality school age childcare’.
He said the measures would ‘make a real difference’ and had come as a response ‘to the challenges presented by our ongoing recovery from the Covid pandemic and a cost of living crisis exacerbated by Brexit and the UK Government’s economic mismanagement, as well as climate change impacts and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’.
Labour’s Rayner woos SNP voters disenchanted by leadership change
Labour’s deputy leader has made an election pitch to SNP voters as the party seeks to attract support ahead of the next general election.
Angela Rayner, speaking at the STUC Congress in Dundee on Tuesday, said the SNP viewed independence as a ‘silver bullet’ to the problems facing Scotland, but Labour could provide the change sought by the party’s supporters.
Scotland’s ruling party, she said, was too ‘warped by their internal wars’ to deliver the change the Scottish people are ‘aching for’, adding that the Tories ‘never will’.
Angela Rayner (pictured with Scottish labour leader Anas Sarwar) said the SNP viewed independence as a ‘silver bullet’ to the problems facing Scotland, but Labour could provide the change sought by the party’s supporters
Ms Rayner, who repeatedly made jokes at the expense of the SNP over the ongoing police investigation into the party’s finances, issued a plea to those who have backed the party during their nearly 16 years in power.
‘I totally understand your desire for change, I share it,’ she said.
‘I recognise your desire to get rid of the Tories, I share it.
‘I know you dream of a brighter future, it’s a dream that both me and (Sir Keir Starmer) share.’
Both she and the Labour leader, Ms Rayner said, ‘know what it’s like to graft, squeeze and penny pinch’.
‘The SNP act as though independence is a silver bullet,’ she added.
‘After 15 years of SNP government, there is not a single institution in Scotland that is stronger now than when they took office.’
Ms Rayner pointed to NHS waiting times, drug deaths and child poverty as particular failings of the SNP in government.
‘That’s the SNP legacy, and it’s working people that are paying the price,’ she said.
‘Each and every day, they are showing they are not the answer to the question and that Humza Yousaf is not the man to resolve it, either.’
She added: ‘The choice is simple, the choice is clear.
‘Only Labour has the vision and the energy to stand up for Scotland. Only Labour can deliver a new deal for Scottish working people.
‘Labour is ready to lead in Scotland once again, you are Labour, and together we can build a better and brighter future for all.’
The party’s deputy leader also took aim at the UK Government, attempting to paint Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as out of touch with the issues affecting regular people.
Ms Rayner said Mr Sunak – who she described as the ‘patron saint of private jets, heated home swimming pools and non-doms’ – was shielding the richest in society from the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.
‘The same old ideology from the same old Tories,’ Ms Rayner added.
‘They incentivise the richest by giving them more, and incentivise the rest of us by taking it away.’
Ahead of her address to the STUC, Ms Rayner announced that a Labour government would ban zero hour contracts as part of its ‘new deal for working people’.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of people on zero hour contracts rose from an estimated 46,000 between October and December 2013 to 94,000 in the same period last year.
‘Labour is the party of working people and for working people – the clue’s in our name,’ she told delegates.
‘The next Labour government will build on our long, proud history with a new deal for working people, for all working people.’
