A former deputy leader of the SNP today sprang to the public defence of embattled Wendy Alexander.

A former deputy leader of the SNP today sprang to the public defence of embattled Wendy Alexander.

Jim Sillars said Dr Jim Dyer was wrong to report the Labour leader for possible prosecution and should apologise to her.

But Dr Dyer, the Holyrood standards commissioner, said he had no choice but to report the result of his investigations to the procurator fiscal if he found a possible offence.

Today's developments came as Ms Alexander continued to insist she has no plans to resign in the row over donations to her leadership campaign.

Mr Sillars, who was the SNP's deputy leader in the early 1990s, told BBC Reporting Scotland it was "astonishing" that she had been reported to the fiscal.

"If you refer someone to the procurator fiscal, you are implying that a criminal act has taken place," he said.

"In my view, rather than refer to the PF, Mr Dyer should send an apology to Wendy Alexander - and I say that as a member of the SNP and not a Labour Party hack."

Ms Alexander was reported to the fiscal by Dr Dyer for failing to register donations to her campaign on Holyrood's register of interests.

A separate inquiry into the donations is being carried out by The Electoral Commission, whose findings are expected soon.

Ms Alexander has throughout insisted there had been no intentional wrongdoing.

She has said she had been first advised by clerks to Holyrood's Standards Committee that there was no need to register her campaign donations at Holyrood.

When Dr Dyer had later said this advice was wrong, she had acted immediately by making public the donations and referral to the procurator had been automatic, she said.

Dr Dyer today issued a statement seeking to "clarify" procedural aspects of his work while emphasising he could not comment on individual investigations.

He said he operated independently of Holyrood's Standards Committee, whose clerks were not under his jurisdiction, and after investigations he reported to the Standards Committee and sometimes to prosecution authorities.

"It is the clerks who give advice to members in response to queries about what should be registered," said Dr Dyer.

"If I require legal advice to assist in interpretation of the law relevant to a complaint, my advice is independent of that available to the clerks or the committee."

The Parliament, and in some cases the courts, were the final arbiter of what should be registered, Dr Dyer went on.

When he investigated complaints, he had to form a view on whether there may have been a breach of the rules.

"If such a breach would, if proved, be an offence, I have to stop investigating and report to the procurator fiscal.

"I have no discretion on whether to report in such circumstances."

Ms Alexander said she had no intention of following the example of Peter Hain who quit his cabinet post to fight to clear his name after The Electoral Commission referred a row over campaign funding to the police.

"I think it's important in politics for you to do what you were elected to do, which is to stand up for your constituents," she told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland.

"I have said all along that I fully expect The Electoral Commission to exonerate me of any intentional wrongdoing.

"And the important thing is that Labour and I stay focused on the job which we were elected for."

"I don't think anybody's future should be called into question on the basis of following the advice of parliamentary authorities," said Mr Alexander.

She said she had no plans to resign and went on: "I think it has been a bit of a distraction.

"But I was elected overwhelmingly by Labour in Scotland to lead the fight for putting social justice back in the budget.

"That's what we will do this week.

"I was elected with the overwhelming support of the Labour Party in Parliament and I continue to enjoy that support."