NATALIE McGarry, the MP for Glasgow East, is facing a second police probe into alleged financial discrepancies, Police Scotland has confirmed.
The latest line of inquiry is the result of the SNP regional association, of which she is a former convenor, making a complaint.
The backbencher – who has strenuously denied any wrongdoing - withdrew from the SNP whip last November over an alleged discrepancy, thought to involve thousands of pounds from Women for Independence, the campaign group, which Ms McGarry helped found.
Read more: MP Natalie McGarry weds Councillor David Meikle
Police Scotland continues to investigate this matter.
But it has now confirmed it has received and is investigating a report from the party’s Glasgow regional association, regarding alleged missing funds from its accounts.
"We can confirm that police have received a report and inquires are continuing," said a force spokesman.
A spokesperson for Natalie McGarry MP said: “Police Scotland have not been in contact with Ms McGarry in relation to recent media reports. Ms McGarry is clear that no wrongdoing has been committed on her part and she will fully cooperate with Police Scotland in their inquiries.”
Aamer Anwar, the MP’s lawyer, said: "Ms McGarry is on her honeymoon and with regards to an inquiry it would be inappropriate to comment any further."
The 34-year-old independent MP has hit the headlines on a number of occasions since withdrawing from the party whip.
Earlier in May, she admitted to having made a “serious mistake” when she accused a pro-Union campaigner of being an “outed Holocaust denier” on social media.
Alastair Cameron, director of the campaign group Scotland in Union, accepted Ms McGarry’s apology and agreed legal costs and a charitable donation after the backbencher settled out of court. The amount of money was said to be £10,000.
Read more: Natalie McGarry to provide papers in cash probe
In January, the MP prompted a Twitter storm when she accused JK Rowling of bullying, causing the Harry Potter author to threaten legal proceedings. Ms McGarry subsequently apologised for "any misguided inference" that Ms Rowling supported misogyny or abuse.
In February, the backbencher also made headlines when she was detained by security forces in Turkey after getting out her mobile phone at a checkpoint to "record the sound of bombs from the Turkish forces falling on the Kurdish area of Sur in Diyarbakir".
At the weekend, Ms McGarry married David Meikle, a Conservative councillor for Pollokshields.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel