The SNP’s former treasurer has said he did not know that the party had bought a luxury motorhome. Colin Beattie, who was in the role for a total of nearly 20 years, was asked by journalists whether he knew about and had signed off the purchase.
Mr Beattie quit as treasurer the day after he was arrested by police as part of an ongoing investigation into the party’s finances. He was subsequently released without charge pending further investigation.
The Niesmann and Bischoff vehicle, which can retail for more than £100,000, was seized by police from outside the home of former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell’s mother in Dunfermline.
The motorhome was removed on 5 April – the same morning that Mr Murrell became the first senior party figure to be arrested in the probe.Mr Murrell, who is married to Nicola Sturgeon, was also released without charge pending further inquiry, with officers spending two days searching the couple’s home in Glasgow. The SNP’s headquarters in Edinburgh were also searched.
Newspaper reports quoted neighbours as saying the motorhome had sat on the driveway of the house since January 2021.
Mr Beattie was not SNP treasurer at the time, having lost an internal vote to Douglas Chapman the previous November after 16 years in the role.
He was reappointed when Mr Chapman quit in May 2021 after saying he had “not received the support or financial information” that was needed to carry out his duties as treasurer.
The Daily Record said it had been told by party sources that the motorhome was bought as a potential “battle bus” ahead of the last Scottish Parliament election in May of that year but was never used.
The party had generally hired vehicles to use during previous election campaigns.
Humza Yousaf, who succeeded Ms Sturgeon as SNP leader and first minister last month, has previously said he only learned about the motorhome after he won the leadership contest and saw a police warrant that gave details of items officers wanted to confiscate.
The SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn was later asked about the motorhome as he spoke at an Institute for Government event in London, and said he only became aware of the purchase “when it was printed on the front of a newspaper”.
Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy said Mr Beattie’s admission that he did not know about the motorhome “beggars belief” and left “serious questions to answer”.
He added: “Humza Yousaf should have long since suspended senior SNP figures like Peter Murrell, Nicola Sturgeon and Colin Beattie while this investigation is ongoing, but he has failed to show any signs of leadership”.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said the revelation “lays bare the chaos at the heart of the SNP”, adding: “That the treasurer of the party did not know that over £100,000 had been spent on a motorhome is mind-boggling.”
The leader of the SNP’s Westminster group, Stephen Flynn, said on Monday that it could miss out on £1.2m in public funds if it fails to file its accounts by the 31 May deadline.
The party is having problems finding new auditors after the previous company resigned in September – although Mr Yousaf has said he did not find out the firm had quit until after he became party leader.
Senior figures in the Westminster group are said to be at loggerheads after former leader Ian Blackford accused his successor Mr Flynn of giving him false assurances about the group’s auditors.
Mr Blackford told the BBC he had been told by Mr Flynn in a phone call on 7 April that the group had an auditor in place, but a senior SNP source disputed his version of events.
Source: BBC
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