NICOLA Sturgeon has declined to back an investigation into a charity set up by one of her MPs with £16,000 of government support.

The First Minister said it would “not be appropriate” for her to intervene amid calls for a probe into the activity of the Scottish Asian Women’s Association (SAWA).

SAWA was founded in 2012 by SNP activist Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, a close ally of Alex Salmond, who was elected last year as the MP for Ochil and South Perthshire.

Its launch was paid for by the SNP Government, which provided £9000 worth of food and entertainment for 160 guests, and laid on Stirling Castle, worth another £7000.

Ms Ahmed-Sheikh, 45, had applied to register SAWA as a charity just two days earlier.

Ms Sturgeon and Mr Salmond, then the First Minister, both attended the launch evening.

Earlier this month the Herald revealed, that in the three years Ms Ahmed-Sheikh was chairwoman, SAWA donated just £700, or 2.8 per cent, of its £25,000 income.

Although there is no suggestion of wrongdoing, the figures prompted claims that SAWA had been little more than a state-supported promotional vehicle for her political career.

On the eve of the 2014 European election, when Ms Ahmed-Sheikh was an SNP candidate, a SAWA Facebook page posted a message urging people to vote SNP to get her elected.

In the wake of the controversy, Labour urged the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) to investigate SAWA’s operation, and called on Ms Sturgeon to back the move.

Labour also called on her to release all government documents on SAWA.

However in a letter on Wednesday, Ms Sturgeon said OSCR was “operationally independent”.

She told Labour MSP Jackie Baillie: “It is for them to interpret charity law and how to apply it to situations they encounter."

Ms Baillie said: “This isn't anywhere near good enough from the First Minister.

“When this organisation was launched we thought it would be the start of an important initiative, instead it was merely the start of a publicity drive for a prominent nationalist activist."

Ms Ahmed-Sheikh stepped down as the chair of SAWA the day after she became an MP last May.

Set up to “promote religious and racial harmony”, it has since donated £11,000 to other charities and good causes.