- Police Scotland has passed on a formal request to the Crown Office asking what action to take next
- The report is understood to focus on the former first minister and former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie
- Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell was charged ‘in connection with the embezzlement of funds’ from the party in April this year
The police have made a formal request to the Crown Office asking what action to take next.
The development in the long-running Operation Branchform case was revealed last night.
Mr Murrell, 59, was re-arrested and charged ‘in connection with the embezzlement of funds’ from the SNP in April this year.
A month later, the police sent a ‘standard prosecution report’ to prosecutors concerning incidents said to have occurred between 2016 and 2023.
Meanwhile, their investigations into Ms Sturgeon, 54, and Mr Beattie, 72, continued.
It has now emerged detectives working on the case recently sent details of what they had found in an ‘advice and guidance’ report to the Crown.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: ‘On August 9, we presented the findings of the investigation so far to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and we await their direction on what further action should be taken.’
Senior Crown lawyers are understood to be considering whether there is enough evidence to prosecute Mr Murrell and whether it would be in the ‘public interest’ to do so.
Ms Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell, pictured right, was charged ‘in connection with the embezzlement of funds’ from the SNP earlier this year.
After her arrest in June last year, Ms Sturgeon protested her innocence to the media. ‘I am absolutely certain that I have done nothing wrong,’ she said.
Both she and Mr Beattie said they would cooperate fully with the investigation.
The latest Police Scotland update to prosecutors comes as the force faces questions about the length of Operation Branchform, which recently entered its fourth year.
Police Scotland Chief Constable Jo Farrell last month refused to say how much longer the investigation would last, telling Sky News: ‘That inquiry is ongoing.’
Asked if Ms Sturgeon and Mr Beattie were under investigation, she added: ‘Still ongoing.’
Operation Branchform was launched in July 2021 after the police received complaints alleging SNP funds raised for a second independence referendum had been spent on other things.
It followed the party raising more than £600,000 for a ringfenced referendum campaign which never happened, but its accounts showed less than that in reserves.
The issue has dogged the SNP ever since.
It dominated the start of Humza Yousaf’s time as First Minister, with Mr Beattie’s arrest overshadowing his first major speech to Holyrood as party leader.
SNP activists also reported the issue coming up on the doorstep during the general election.
Senior party figures later said the SNP’s hammering at the polls, when it slumped from 48 seats to just nine, was in part due to a loss of trust among voters.
Westminster leader Stephen Flynn also admitted the SNP suffered ‘self-inflicted wounds’.
The Crown Office declined to add to a May 23 statement issued after Police Scotland submitted its prosecution report about Mr Murrell.
It said Crown prosecutors and independent counsel would review the report and evaluate numerous witness statements and extensive evidence collected by police.
The Crown said decisions on next steps will not involve Scotland’s top prosecutor, the Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC, pictured left, as she is also the Scottish Government’s senior legal adviser. This is to help ensure the process operates independently of political influence.