Swinney launches staunch defence of Lord Advocate over 'corruption' row
The First Minister said claims the Lord Advocate had given the SNP a political advantage were ‘rubbish’
John Swinney has launched a staunch defence of Scotland’s most senior prosecutor after she was accused of handing a political advantage to the SNP, calling the claims “contemptible rubbish”.
A furious row broke out after it emerged Dorothy Bain KC sent a minute to the First Minister in January in which she revealed details of allegations against former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell.
She previously told MSPs the email was to inform Mr Swinney of a “significant development” in the case against Mr Murrell – who is Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband – and to “ensure the government is reminded of its legal responsibilities to restrict its comments”.
She said she would “roundly reject” any suggestion she is “corrupt”.
However, the Conservatives and Labour have claimed giving such details to Mr Swinney weeks before they were made public gave him a political advantage.
The minute revealed Mr Murrell is charged with embezzling almost £460,000 from the SNP, and was sent to Mr Swinney on January 19, weeks before details of the charge became public.
Speaking during First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay said: “Thanks to the Lord Advocate, John Swinney and the SNP knew the precise scale of the alleged crime while the public knew nothing.”
He added: “The Lord Advocate’s private memo gave John Swinney political advantage.”
He said Ms Bain, who advises Scottish government ministers on legal matters as well as heading the prosecution service in Scotland, is meant to be “scrupulously politically neutral”, adding: “In the real world this smacks of corruption.”
Mr Swinney replied: “I want to say something very directly to Mr Findlay, to Parliament and to the public in Scotland.
“Dorothy Bain is an outstanding prosecutor, she is an outstanding lawyer, she has 40 years of unimpeachable service to the public interest in Scotland.
“She alone is responsible for more cases of sexual violence of men against women being brought to justice than any other person, and I put on record today my absolute confidence in the Lord Advocate in undertaking her duties.
“And I am disgusted by the way Russell Findlay spoke about her yesterday and he should be ashamed of himself, and he should withdraw every word of the contemptible rubbish that he’s put on the record yesterday and today.”
Mr Findlay hit back: “The best Oscar for phony anger goes to John Swinney.”
He added: “This scandal is typical of an SNP government that is obsessed with secrecy and spin, personified by the First Minister.
“If John Swinney really doesn’t understand why this stinks he is in need of a software update. The Lord Advocate’s private memo gave John Swinney political advantage.
“He was Nicola Sturgeon’s right-hand man and he got a heads-up about the criminal case involving her husband. The Lord Advocate’s actions were wrong and her excuses do not stack up.”
He called on the Lord Advocate to return to Holyrood “to provide a full statement about this shameful, rotten episode”.
Mr Swinney said opposition MSPs were guilty of the “most appalling level of behaviour” over the row, adding: “We have a code of conduct and some standards to uphold in this Parliament.
“The shouting and bawling from the Conservatives demonstrates my point that they do not deserve to be here, and they will not be here, because they are on their way out at the forthcoming election.”
Elsewhere, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar asked the First Minister to confirm if he or any of his advisers contacted the Crown Office asking to be updated on the case, to which Mr Swinney said they had not.
The First Minister said he had shared the minute he received from the Lord Advocate with a small number of people in the Scottish government who speak on his behalf, saying it was “vital” they were aware of the live court proceedings.
Mr Sarwar also accused the Lord Advocate of appearing to give “inaccurate and contradictory information” in her statements to Holyrood on Wednesday, citing discrepancies with a response issued by the Crown Office.
Answering an urgent question in Holyrood on the issue on Wednesday, Ms Bain said there was “no limitation on its terms being made public” after an indictment has been made.
However, the Crown Office described an indictment as “not a public document” on Friday, saying it does not become so until it is laid in court.
“These two statements cannot be true,” the Scottish Labour leader said.
He added that if details of the charge had not been published by the Sun newspaper earlier this month, “the only people who would have known the details of this case before the election would have been the Crown, Peter Murrell and – bizarrely, because the Lord Advocate notified them – John Swinney and his SNP advisers”.
Mr Sarwar asked: “How is that acceptable and not the very definition of political advantage?”
Mr Swinney then launched a scathing attack on Mr Sarwar, raising a letter Ms Bain had sent to the Labour leader which accused him of “a number of factual errors” in previous statements, which she wanted to correct “in order to protect the rule of law”.
The First Minister said: “That tells us all we need to know. Anas Sarwar, putting factual errors into the public domain, undermining the rule of law.”
He claimed that as a result, Mr Sarwar was “unfit to lead the Labour Party”.
Mr Murrell had been expected to appear at the High Court in Glasgow for a preliminary hearing this Friday, but this has now been moved to May 25 at the High Court in Edinburgh.
A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “The case against Peter Murrell is active and caution must be exercised about commentary which may give rise to prejudice to the administration of justice.
“The Lord Advocate is committed to ensuring that Parliament is properly informed, consistent with her responsibilities. She will provide Parliament with an update as soon as possible.”