Former Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon briefly arrested
Nicola Sturgeon surprisingly announced her retirement in February after more than eight years
Credit: AFP/Andy Buchanan
Investigations have been underway since 2021, her husband was arrested in April, and now she is herself: former Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon has had to respond to financial discrepancies in her party. She was released shortly thereafter.
DrAccording to the British police and media, former Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon was arrested during investigations into the party’s finances. Scottish police said on Sunday that a 52-year-old woman had been arrested and questioned “as a suspect in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and financing of the Scottish National Party”. British media reported that it was a sturgeon. She was released after about seven hours. On Sunday evening, the Scottish Police said no formal allegations had been made against them, but investigations were ongoing.
The longtime head of government and chairwoman of the Scottish National Party (SNP) campaigned vigorously for an independent Scotland. In February, after more than eight years at the head of government in Edinburgh, she surprisingly announced her resignation – according to her own statements because she lacked the “energy” to go on. But the investigation into her husband, Peter Morell, was already hovering over her like a dark cloud. Sturgeon then left office in March after her successor was elected.
In April, Sturgeon’s husband, former SNP general secretary Muriel, was arrested for investigating the SNP’s finances. Police also searched Sturgeon and Morel’s home in Glasgow and the SNP’s headquarters in Edinburgh.
In the past, among other things, the alleged transfer of around £600,000 (about €700,600) for party donations has raised questions. Morrell also failed to declare a personal loan to the party of around £100,000 (about €116,000) – which would have been a breach of the party’s finance transparency laws.
Morrell’s arrest deepened the crisis in the SNP. The polarizing campaign to succeed Sturgeon has already exposed fault lines on the question of the party’s future. The British government in London and the High Court rejected the Scottish National Party’s call for a new referendum on Scottish independence.
Sturgeon’s successor, Hamza Yusuf, denied after Morrell’s arrest that Al-Hafsh could have resigned knowing the investigation was getting her dangerously close. “Nicolas legacy speaks for itself,” Youssef said at the time. Colin Beatty, the SNP’s treasurer, was also arrested in April.
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