The Electoral Commission has admitted fundamental weaknesses in its ability to probe allegations of illegal donations to political parties.

The Electoral Commission has admitted fundamental weaknesses in its ability to probe allegations of illegal donations to political parties.

An official document seen by The Herald shows that detailed procedures and guidance on how investigations should be carried out remain "in development", despite the fact that high-profile probes into allegations against senior Labour figures, including Scottish leader Wendy Alexander, are currently under way.

The 12-page paper, entitled Handling Allegations, also reveals that the commission does not have "any prescribed method for making decisions" and that it is "unclear" when discussions with the UK Ministry of Justice on increasing the range of sanctions it can hand down will be concluded.

The commission also admits many cases will go unpunished even if they find the law has been broken.

"There is likely to be a potentially large grey area' of cases where offences may have been committed but the commission does not consider it appropriate to pursue the matter further," says the consultation paper to all parties.

An accompanying e-mail, sent from the Electoral Commission's London HQ, asks for the parties' views on the "high-level principles of the process and not the detail".

Roseanna Cunningham, the SNP MSP, said the document raised "serious questions" about the way the commission was handling its probe into Ms Alexander, who has admitted accepting an illegal donation to her Labour leadership campaign from the Jersey-based billionaire Paul Green.

Ms Cunningham said: "Wendy Alexander and her team have admitted breaking the law - surely the only procedure in this case should be a police investigation."

Meanwhile, Labour MSP Jackie Baillie revealed that Wendy Alexander was involved in the decision to solicit donations of less than £1000 for her leadership campaign, thereby ensuring all those who gave money could remain anonymous.

Under election law, permissible donations of less than £1000 do not need to be reported to the Electoral Commission.

However, Ms Baillie said the campaign team had sought small donations to guard against suggestions that Ms Alexander's backers could enjoy "any improper influence" in the future, and not to protect the donors' identity.