Nicola Sturgeon (left) with Peter Murrell (right). AP.
U.K. authorities arrested the husband of Scotland's former first minister Nicola Sturgeon on Wednesday.
Peter Murrell was taken into custody in relation to an investigation into the Scottish National Party's (SNP) finances.
- Police Scotland announced that
they had arrested, questioned, and released a 58-year-old man as part
of an investigation into the SNP, but provided no further details.
- British media reported
that the individual in question was Murrell, who served as the party's
chief executive from 1999 until his resignation last month.
- Murrell stepped down after accepting blame for misleading statements made by the SNP about the size of its membership.
- Sturgeon, who faces no police accusations, announced in February that she planned to resign as leader of the SNP and as Scotland's first minister.
- Sturgeon was replaced last week by former health secretary Humza Yousaf, who referred to Murrell's arrest as "a difficult day for the party,”
- The SNP rose to prominence in 2011 when its landslide victory in Scotland's parliament set the stage for a 2014 referendum on Scottish independence in which about 55% of Scottish voters chose to remain in the U.K.
- Police launched a probe into the SNP's finances in 2021, following complaints over how the party handled donation money for a second Scottish Independence vote.
