- Saturday, April 27, 2024
Beattie is the long-serving treasurer of the SNP, having held the post between 2004 until 2020, and then again since 2021
By: Pramod Thomas
Police in Scotland said a 71-year-old man who was arrested on Tuesday (18) in connection with an investigation into the Scottish National Party’s funding was released without charge.
Police had arrested the suspect in its ongoing inquiry. The party’s leader said the arrested man was the SNP treasurer Colin Beattie.
Police said the investigation is ongoing and a report will be sent to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
Beattie is the long-serving treasurer of the SNP, having held the post between 2004 until 2020, and then again since 2021.
The investigation is looking at what happened to more than £600,000 raised by Scottish independence campaigners in 2017, which was meant to have been ring-fenced but may have been used for other purposes.
Scotland’s longest serving leader of its semi-autonomous government, Nicola Sturgeon, caught the political world by surprise when she announced her resignation in February, sparking a divisive race to succeed her.
Humza Yousaf, who won the contest last month after pitching himself as the continuity candidate, has seen the first few weeks of his premiership dominated by questions about the party’s credibility.
Arriving at Scotland’s parliament on Tuesday, Yousaf told reporters “people are innocent until proven guilty” butsaid “of course, I’m surprised when one of my colleagues has been arrested.”
Peter Murrell, Sturgeon’s husband and the party’s former chief executive, was arrested and then released without charge earlier this month as part of the party funding investigation.
(Reuters)
