John Swinney refuses to say whether SNP aides knew about Linden scandal
John Swinney maintains he was not aware of Linden’s behaviour until it was made public in the media.
John Swinney has refused to say whether any of his top aides knew about Jordan Linden amid claims of a “cover-up”.
The First Minister maintains he was not aware of Linden’s behaviour until it was reported in the press - Linden has been convicted of 10 separate offences following a trial at Falkirk Sheriff Court, including five sexual assaults.
Linden is the former leader of North Lanarkshire Council and earlier this week recordings of party meetings were published where SNP councillors were heard giving their support to Linden and threats to find and discipline the individual responsible for leaking the information to the press.
The recording also suggests the SNP was aware of the situation as party bosses told Linden not to comment on the allegations.
On Friday, Mr Swinney ordered an independent review into the SNP’s complaints procedures.
When asked by The Scotsman how much he knew on the back of the recordings being published, Mr Swinney said: “I’ve answered these questions already, I knew nothing about this until it all came into the public domain.
“I can only tell you what I knew about it and I’ve set out that the party is reviewing its complaints handling process.”
However, when asked if any of his aides were aware of Linden’s behaviour at the time, Mr Swinney refused to answer the question. Instead, he said: “What matters is whether we’ve got the processes in place to tackle these issues, and after the review that’s been done.
“I’m satisfied we have got those procedures in place but I want to satisfy myself and make sure we’ve got further independent scrutiny of that.”
Pressure is now mounting on Tracy Carragher to quit as an SNP candidate. She is one of the councillors heard in the recording and was called as a defence witness during Linden’s criminal trial.
Ms Carragher has since denounced Linden following his conviction, and said: “I gave an honest account of my involvement and my knowledge of events.
“I did not at any point defend Mr Linden.”
The comments by Mr Swinney have been slammed by opposition parties who say the silence “speaks volumes”.
Dame Jackie Baillie, deputy leader of Scottish Labour, said: “It is disgraceful that John Swinney is still refusing to say what he knew and when about the reprehensible behaviour of Jordan Linden.
“His silence about whether his aides knew about the allegations speaks volumes.
“Instead of continuing to dodge the question, he should come clean and tell us when SNP HQ knew and why they chose to cover it up.”
She branded the party’s internal review as “nothing more than a cynical sham”, and added: “The people of Scotland will not be fooled by this desperate tactic, which has been deployed by the SNP for years to avoid accepting accountability.
“They are a party addicted to cover-up and secrecy, and Scotland deserves better.”
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