Fraudulent purchases recorded by the SNP using phoney receipts may have been included in any reclaimed VAT

The taxman cometh — Labour leader Anas Sarwar, Peter Murrell and First Minister John Swinney.

by Bill Heaney

John Swinney will not get away with taking the same approach—a culture of secrecy, cover-up and deflection—that led to the Peter Murrell scandal in the first place, according to Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.

Mr Sarwar told the Holyrood parliament: “Yesterday, John Swinney and the Scottish National Party Government were held in contempt of court for failing to be open and transparent with the public.

As that was happening, John Swinney finally admitted that the £600,000 that his party raised from members of the public explicitly to spend on a referendum campaign had been used for other expenses. A new police complaint is believed to have been lodged last night.

” A specific website was created, and it was made explicit that people were donating to a ring-fenced independence campaign fund. The same promise was made in letters, social media posts and media interviews.

“To quote one example: ‘SNP: All the money raised on #ScotRef website is ringfenced to fight a future independence referendum’.

“That was clearly a lie. Will the First Minister now apologise to all the members of the public whose hard-earned cash his party took on false pretences, and will he, unlike Nicola Sturgeon, fully co-operate with any new police investigation?”

The First Minister said: “What I said yesterday was nothing different from what the Scottish National Party said in 2021, so I think that Mr Sarwar needs to do a wee bit of a check of his press cuts before he tries to put that into his comments.

“I do not think that it will be a surprise to members of the public that the Scottish National Party and John Swinney believe in Scottish independence, that we raise money to deliver Scottish independence and that we have every intention of delivering Scottish independence.”

Anas Sarwar maintained: “There are really serious questions here. Peter Murrell has pleaded guilty to embezzling £400,000. It has now become clear that he did much of that by falsifying receipts, on many occasions pretending that they were for legitimate business costs.

“Political parties, like businesses, are able to claim back VAT on purchases relating to operating costs. That means that fraudulent purchases recorded by the SNP using phoney receipts may have been included in any reclaimed VAT.

“For example, the £124,000 camper van that was recorded in the system as a van would be subject to 20 per cent VAT; the £3,000 robotic lawnmower that was recorded as legal fees would be subject to VAT; and the ridiculous luxury egg poacher that was recorded as an ethernet cable would be subject to VAT—all potentially illegally reclaimed from HMRC.

“Today, we have written to His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, asking it to launch a full investigation into the potential defrauding of the public purse. Would the First Minister welcome that investigation, and will he launch his own audit so that we can make sure that any misused public money can be recouped?”

The First Minister wasn’t having any of that — “Let me help Mr Sarwar out with an update on information. The issues in relation to Peter Murrell’s admission of guilt about the embezzlement of Scottish National Party funds have potential implications in relation to the payment of taxation.

“That is why the Scottish National Party has already opened up discussions with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs on exactly that point.

“In making sure that we deliver the highest standards of financial governance, which are exactly what I preside over, we are proactively taking those forward, at our own request, with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.”

Anas Sarwar thanked John Swinney for accepting that there could potentially have been illegal reclaiming of VAT from HMRC, which means potential misuse of public money that should not have been claimed, because of the fraudulent receipts issued by Peter Murrell.

He added: “However, that also demonstrates that this is the biggest political and financial scandal in the history of the Scottish Parliament, and it goes far beyond the crimes of Peter Murrell. John Swinney will not get away with taking the same approach—a culture of secrecy, cover-up and deflection—that led to the situation in the first place.

“Operation Branchform dragged on for almost four years. It consumed huge amounts of police time, cost the taxpayer at least £2.7 million and raised profound questions about transparency and accountability at the heart of Government.

“It has brought further scrutiny on the dual role of the Lord Advocate, it has raised issues for the governing party of the country about the misuse of £600,000 of supporters’ money, and now there is an acceptance that there has been a possible defrauding of public money and HMRC.

“It is beyond doubt that there should be a parliamentary inquiry. Will John Swinney finally back that inquiry, or will it require further arrests for the public to get the truth?”

The First Minister stuck to his guns — “In the course of that rambling explanation from Mr Sarwar, he said that there has been an extraordinary amount of time and resource spent on a police investigation.

“There has been, and there had to be, because my party was the victim of criminal embezzlement by somebody who was trusted in my party. That investigation had to take place.

“Mr Sarwar now wants to have another investigation; I presume that he did not like the outcome of the last one because it did not suit the priorities that he is setting out.

“Last night, I convened a meeting of my party’s national executive committee to ensure that we could take the action necessary to address the implications of Peter Murrell’s conviction.

“We agreed unanimously to act to secure the party’s interests by instructing our solicitors to begin action in court to recover the money that has been stolen from us.

“We have significantly improved our financial procedures and controls over the past few years. I have taken strong action to ensure that we have effective financial management in the Scottish National Party, and we have put in place measures to ensure that we have the highest standards.

“We have had a police investigation. There can be no higher and more forensic investigation than a police investigation. Therefore, I do not support the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry, because we have had an investigation and it convicted somebody for embezzling from my party’s funds.”