Nicola Sturgeon

I have to sign off our business accounts, which means accepting responsibility for what is declared.

As a women in charge of Scotland at the time I would have thought that she would have been all over anything regarding the SNP which she put her signature to.

Salmond was cleared of all the allegations bar one, and that was not proven. Sturgeon used him in her rise to power then discarded him when he became inconvenient and is now doing the same to her ex-husband. Not a shred of loyalty to either.

Bad enough that she disclaims all knowledge of the embezzlement and the goods it procured including a range of female accessories , refused to answer police questions during lengthy interviews but is now attempting to promote herself via book promotions and television interviews.

Too old to play the wide-eyed ingenue. She was head of the Government and signed off the accounts without investigation, therefore is culpable.

She covered up. Full stop.

Oreo

TerriBull

I'd just like to know why has she decamped to London, surely England and it's capital site of the loathed WESTMINSTER would be the last place in her sights as somewhere to park herself

May well be safer for her to be away from Scotland and angry and disappointed voters.
For some the SNP Party was almost like a religion with the her and husband like untouchable gods.

"For some the SNP Party was almost like a religion with the her and husband like untouchable gods."

Do you actually have any experience of this apart from biased media reporting?

Do you live in Scotland? If you do, you will know that to Joe Public, Murrell was hardly given a thought to as he was in the background, supposedly administering the party.

The pair of them 'untouchable gods'? I live in Scotland and can't even imagine what that would look like - quite hilarious to contemplate and there is not a lot of media showing them together over the years until this scandal - which of course was very useful to the anti-independence movement.

Sturgeon has been badly let down by her ex, whatever their actual relationship was. The way they shared (or didn't) their expenditure etc would depend on that actual relationship, of which we don't know enough to judge, although of course, people do sadly.

Sturgeon's ex has being living in her shadow but has surely now stabbed her in the back, whatever their relationship was. She will be tarred with his brush by some.

Yes, I am disappointed and angry at Murrell, but I have no way to hold Sturgeon to account. They were both high earners and had been living separate lives for some time so it is conceivable that she was ignorant of the fact (as everyone else in the party was) that not only was he committing fraud, but betraying the trust of the people.

Salmond was found not guilty on all allegations as far as I am aware.

She did lead a country.
She led Scotland through Covid.

Betrayed by two important men in her life.
Her mentor Salmond turned out to be a sex pest
and her husband, a fraudster.

She still doesn’t get it, does she? Beside not noticing Jag' Campervan, Coffee machines (enough to challenge the local Costa Coffee,) plus a selection of Hairdryers. NS is being blamed for her own shortcomings. In particular, she failed to notice that £400,000 was missing from the accounts then refusing to allow anyone else to ask questions about it. She was incompetent, and she wanted to lead a Country!
She's now playing the little Miss Innocent, how insulting to the people Scotland and every tax payer in the UK.

It’s a bit like, did Queen Elizabeth know about Andrew MW’s leaking confidential information to business men? Now that we know the emails were sent to Buckingham Palace.

I don't feel sorry for her either Aveline. It was her job to know what was going on. She's as hard faced now as she ever was, in my opinion.

I don't think there is hard evidence to claim that she was complicit in these thefts. It must be awful for her to know that many people will think she was involved and it is not fair to say that. However, it certainly demonstrates a lack of attention and a lack of judgment - particulary because when she was questioned about the state of the party's finances she said they were in good order. Surely she should have investigated the situation before providing such reassurance?

I’m sure the further police investigation will discover if she was involved. However, a previous investigation brought no case against her.

Probably right Galaxy. Read this one about the pizza and garlic bread if you want a laugh!
www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/16311160/sturgeon-campervan-denial-disputed-murrells-mums-neighbour/

This won't be the end of it. More and more will come out about what happened there. The way those who raised concerns were treated was unpleasant to say the least. I have no idea how anyone is surprised by this. The positioning of a husband and wife in such positions of power within one organisation was undoubtedly going to lead to corruption.
I am happy to predict what 'excuses' she will roll out soon.

What exactly did she think had happened to the money? Why was she so keen to cover up the massive hole in party finances?

AGAA4

Murrell committed the crime not his wife so she is not a criminal but is being treated as one. I think they separated in 2023 so we're leading separate lives.
The only thing she can be accused of is not questioning him on the expensive items and acting if she thought he was embezzling.
It can be difficult within a marriage to acknowledge your husband as a criminal.

I tend to agree with you. Nicola Sturgeon wasn’t a wife with a career that meant she was home cooking the dinner most nights. She was a First Minster on the World Stage. She had bigger things to occupy her rather than her husband’s spending.
Peter Murrell was a high earner and could easily have defended or hidden the purchases real costs. The motor home bought on credit payments, perhaps.
As has been said she hasn’t been accused of any crime.

That’s not really what I was getting at, as one pen, one necklace, one coffee machine etc. would be normal purchases in a high income household, so it’s whether she knew about the excess, particularly the motorhome?

Nicola stamped down on anyone querying the books. People left the Audit committee as they weren't allowed to see them. Auditors refused to sign off the books? Why? How could Nicola not have known.
I don't feel sorry for her in the least. She treated those who queried the situation abominably.

I disagree that the spending had no logic, because it did, they were all high status items, the pen, the latest expensive coffee machines, watch, cars and motorhome and cosmetics.

What we don’t know is whether the goods he bought did end up in their house. The coffee machines may have been gifts she knew nothing about for example, and did she get on with her mother in law or never visit her so didn’t know about the motorhome, etc. The devil is in the detail we don’t know I think.

Murrell committed the crime not his wife so she is not a criminal but is being treated as one. I think they separated in 2023 so we're leading separate lives.
The only thing she can be accused of is not questioning him on the expensive items and acting if she thought he was embezzling.
It can be difficult within a marriage to acknowledge your husband as a criminal.

Guilty by implication and speculation does not hold water for me.

The other thing that keeps going through my head is that OH had Parkinsons (so has my brother, so had my mother) and this sort of rash illogical spending can be a symptom of either the disease itself or a side effect of some of the meds. The fact that his spending had no logic to it and sounds compulsive just triggered a thought about this.

I don't think the necklace problem comes down to money. If Mr D had given me a necklace I'd admired and it turned out he's bought it with embezzled money it wouldn't matter to me whether it was made of diamonds or tin.

I did wonder about the coffee machines - one i the kitchen, one in each of their offices and one in the camper van? There are bad buys and bad buys though. If I'd paid £75 for a coffee machine and didn't like it I might pass it on and get another, but if I'd forked out £3k for it and it didn't work I'd be taking it back, or at least selling it on eBay or something.

From the ST today "Peter Murrell stole from Alex Salmond's office more than 30 years ago - but rather than being thrown out of the Scottish National Party he went on to be made its chief executive, the party's former treasurer has claimed" So he had form ...and Nicola didn't know

maybe there was a coffee machine in the motorhome? one in the jag and the other in the golf