Police confirmed that a 52-year-old woman, Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish former minister was taken into custody as a suspect and is being questioned by detectives. This follows the arrest and subsequent release of her husband, ex-SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, in April.
Sturgeon, who quit as first minister and SNP leader in March, is the third person to be arrested as part of Operation Branchform, the Police Scotland investigation into allegations that the party misspent more than £600,000 in donations for an independence campaign.
A spokesperson for Sturgeon said she had met the police by arrangement, in the knowledge that she would be arrested and interviewed. “Nicola Sturgeon has today, Sunday 11 June, by arrangement with Police Scotland, attended an interview where she was to be arrested and questioned in relation to Operation Branchform,” the spokesperson said. “Nicola has consistently said she would cooperate with the investigation if asked, and continues to do so.”
The police searched their home and back garden, and also the SNP’s headquarters, under warrant, taking out boxes of documents and computers. A luxury motorhome parked outside Murrell’s mother’s house in Fife was also seized and impounded by police, as part of their investigation.
The arrest of Sturgeon, who stepped down earlier this year, was likely to embarrass the SNP, which campaigns to end Scotland’s three-century political union with England.
“These issues are subject to a live police investigation. The SNP have been cooperating fully with this investigation and will continue to do so, however, it is not appropriate to publicly address any issues while that investigation is ongoing,” an SNP spokesperson said in a statement.
Sturgeon was the face of Scotland’s independence movement for eight years until her sudden resignation in February.
At the time, the first female leader of Scotland said that the decision to leave was “not a reaction to short-term pressures.” The investigation into the SNP began less than eight weeks later.
Scotland is part of the U.K., but, like Wales and Northern Ireland, has its semi-autonomous government with broad powers over areas that include education and health care.
Sturgeon was known as a persuasive political leader who continued to build broad support for Scottish independence, despite a vote to remain part of the U.K. in 2014, and as a staunch supporter of transgender rights.
In January she introduced new legislation to make it easier for Scottish people to legally change genders, which was later blocked by the U.K’s Parliament in London.
Sturgeon was replaced by Humza Yousaf, following a bitter election, although his first few months in office were overshadowed by the police investigation.
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