Bombshell footage of Nicola Sturgeon furiously insisting SNP finances had “never been stronger” is today published by the Sunday Mail.
In a meeting of the party’s ruling body in March 2021 the former First Minister warns her officials to be “very careful” about suggesting there was “any problems” with the accounts.
And we can also reveal jewellery purchases are now being probed by police as part of a fraud investigation sparked weeks later by claims of misappropriated donations.
In the video, Sturgeon lashes out after three members of her finance and audit committee resigned in protest because they were refused access to the books.
She said: “The party has never been in a stronger financial position than it is right now and that’s a reflection of our strength and our membership.
“I’m not going to get into the details…but, you know, just be very careful about suggestions that there are problems with the party’s finances, because we depend on donors to donate.
“There are no reasons for people to be concerned about the party’s finances, and all of us need to be careful about not suggesting that there is.
“We’ve got to be careful we don’t reap what we sow, if we have leaks from this body it limits the ability for open free and frank discussion.”
The angry statement came after Edinburgh’s former Lord Provost Frank Ross, Allison Graham, and Cynthia Guthrie all resigned from the finance and audit committee.
Graham had just read out a statement voicing a catalogue of concerns over transparency and governance.
We revealed police were investigating fraud allegations in April 2021, and in June that year Murrell personally loaned the party £107,000.
Elected treasurer Douglas Chapman also quit in protest at not being given the financial information to do the job.
SNP MP Joanna Cherry, who also resigned from the NEC, said: “I have sat on a number of management boards and I have never seen business conducted in such an inadequate way as it is on the SNP NEC.
“Nor have I experienced the menacing atmosphere in which the business is conducted, except perhaps within the SNP Westminster Group.
“Probity in public life matters but it was patently clear that there was no desire to put the management of the party on anything approaching a normal footing.”
Another despairing senior nationalist said: “There has never been anything like it in the history of the national movement.
“Sturgeon and Murrell ran the SNP like their own personal fiefdom along with a small inner circle of HQ enforcers.
“Anyone brave enough to voice even the mildest question about the finances was ruthlessly sidelined.
“Humza has now inherited a hollow crown with a party in complete meltdown.”
The NEC yesterday ordered a review of transparency and governance with “external input” which could include forensic auditors.
Sturgeon and Murrell declined to comment on the video.
An SNP spokesman said: “Today the SNP National Executive Committee agreed to a series of proposals to increase transparency in the SNP. It is the case that the SNP accounts are published annually and are in order.”
