Scotland's top law officer not considering position over Murrell memo

Scotland's top law officer says she is not considering her position after facing criticism from MSPs over an email she sent to the first minister about criminal accusations against former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell.

Dorothy Bain told John Swinney in January that Murrell had been accused of embezzling almost £460,000 from the party, weeks before those details became public.

Murrell, 61, is yet to make a plea, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for 25 May.

Rejecting accusations of corruption, Bain told parliament she had sent the memo to protect the judicial process rather than influence it.

The lord advocate - who has a dual role as the government's principal legal advisor, which she performs as a cabinet minister, and the country's chief prosecutor - faced questions from MSPs after her email to Swinney was first reported in the Scottish Sun.

In an urgent question, Labour's Michael Marra asked why details about the charge had been included in the memo, which was shared with senior civil servants and special advisers.

He said the information "conferred clear political advantage" to Swinney and said it suggest "political interference" in the case.

Marra claimed the positions of both the first minister and Bain had been "compromised".

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said the move "smacks of corruption".

He claimed it had given the SNP a "clear" advantage ahead of May's Holyrood election and "endangered the lord advocate's position of neutrality".

Asked by Findlay if she was thinking about stepping down, Bain replied: "I am not considering my position."

She told MSPs: "I have had no involvement in this case and any suggestion that I am corrupt or my position is compromised I roundly reject."

The lord advocate said the memo had not been requested by the government and insisted ministers had not been granted "preferential access".

She also denied the email gave the government any "political advantage".

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has repeatedly said Bain is not involved in the Murrell case because it involves politicians.

The law officer told MSPs the purpose of the memo was to confirm the indictment and the nature of the charge, to reiterate that she was not involved in the prosecution and to remind ministers to avoid "speculation and inappropriate commentary".

She said it was "normal practice" to share this information with the first minister, and that decisions to do so were made on a case-by-case basis.

Pressed by MSPs to give examples where this had happened in the past, Bain said she would get back to them in writing.

She said that the memo had been sent in the knowledge that the indictment would be made public, which it was almost a month later, on 13 February.

Tory MSP Douglas Ross noted that after Swinney's office had received the email the COPFS was telling journalists only the date of the preliminary hearing could be reported.

Lib Dem MSP Jamie Greene rejected suggestions the lord advocate was "politically corrupt", while Scottish Green co-leader Ross Greer described such allegations as "deeply irresponsible".

Earlier, Swinney said he would not comment on a live criminal case.

He added: "Parliament has got to be very clear about the importance of respecting the independence of the criminal process within our country, and within our courts, and I intend to respect that."

Murrell, the estranged husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, stepped down as SNP chief executive in 2023 after more than two decades in the role.

He was arrested that year as part of Operation Branchform, a police investigation into SNP finances.

Murrell was charged with embezzlement in April 2024.

He is accused of embezzling £459,000 from the party between August 2010 and January 2023.

Details of a charge against him - including the illicit purchase of luxury goods, two cars and a motorhome, using party funds - were first reported in the media last week.

Murrell had been expected to appear at the High Court in Glasgow for the preliminary hearing on Friday, but it has been postponed to 25 May at the High Court in Edinburgh.

The request to defer was made by Murrell's defence team and the Crown in a joint application to the court on the basis that both wanted more time to prepare, according to the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS).

In her statement to parliament, Bain did not refer to the Crown requesting deferral.

She told MSPs: "I understand from media reports that Mr Murrell's legal representatives sought for the date to be changed and this was agreed by the independent judge sitting in the independent court."

A SCTS spokesperson told BBC Scotland News it was "very common" for such hearings to be deferred in this manner, especially in complex cases.

The spokesperson added that the decision had been taken independently by the judge, Lord Young, and was not the result of political pressure.

The Scottish government also insisted it had no involvement in the decision to push back the hearing.

It will now take place after the Holyrood election on 7 May.

Seasoned Holyrood observers say the savage mauling of the lord advocate by opposition MSPs was unprecedented.

Dorothy Bain is the head of Scotland's prosecution service, not a politician, and it was clearly a deeply uncomfortable experience for her.

Her 19 January memo informed John Swinney of the financial scale of the allegations against his party's old boss, information which didn't reach the rest of us until last week.

The Crown Office says the note was intended to update the first minister on developments in a high profile case and remind the government that "any public comment on the matter may form the basis of a legal challenge to the fairness of the proceedings".

She also told Swinney that any trial might not take place until March next year, although that would come as no surprise to anyone who watches what happens in the courts.

The affair has renewed the controversy over the lord advocate's wearing of two legal hats, as head of the Crown Office and the Scottish government's chief legal advisor.

It means she leads the service which is prosecuting Peter Murrell, and sits in the Scottish cabinet alongside SNP politicians who know him very well.

Although she has taken no part in the Crown's decision making process on his case, opposition MSPs believe her memo to the first minister crossed a line.

It is ironic that her "careful what you say" warning has provoked so much sound and fury.

And with the fairness of any eventual trial in mind, Peter Murrell's lawyers will be watching what is said very closely.