Tom Gordon

Scottish Political Editor

ALEX Salmond has rearranged his financial affairs to make them more transparent after accusations of secrecy about his outside earnings.

The former First Minister has converted the business which receives his income from publishing to a limited company, meaning it will now issue annual accounts.

In its previous form, it was not required to file accounts at Companies House.

Salmond has declared outside earnings of more than £105,000 so far this year.

The cash - £13,500 for newspaper columns and £91,800 from his referendum book The Dream Shall Never Die - was paid to a firm called The Chronicles of Deer.

The company was established as a private unlimited company in February, with Salmond's accountant, John Cairns, and his lawyer, Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, as its directors.

Salmond became its sole shareholder in March.

The company was "unlimited", meaning Salmond had unlimited liability for any debts, an unusual arrangement which also meant it did not have to publish accounts.

Labour and the LibDems questioned the set-up.

However last week the business was re-registered as a limited company, meaning it will now file accounts showing its assets and liabilities.

Other recent filings show Ahmed-Sheikh resigned as a director the day after the general election, when she was elected as the SNP MP for Ochil and South Perthshire.

As well as his outside income, Salmond earns £67,700 a year as the MP for Gordon and is paid £19,700 - a third of the standard MSP's salary - as the MSP for Aberdeenshire East.

However he donates the latter, plus his First Minister's pension of £2598 a month, to charity.

A Labour spokesman said: "At a time when thousands of low paid families are in the firing line from Tory cuts it looks as if Alex Salmond is doing very well for himself.

"With his book and newspaper column, on top of jobs as an MP and MSP, he looks to have settled back into frontline politics very well."

Salmond's spokesman said the former SNP leader was always committed to declaring his outside income in his parliamentary registers of interests.

He said: "Alex wanted an unlimited company to make clear he would stand behind it in all circumstances. Some suggested different motivations, i.e. that unlimited companies had lower reporting requirements. This was never a factor. Nevertheless, to remove any doubt, he asked his accountant to change it to a limited company."