NICOLA Sturgeon has been warned by the Holyrood inquiry into the botched sexual misconduct probe into Alex Salmond not to allow the destruction of any evidence.

The cross-party group of MSPs agreed to write to the First Minister about “preservation of evidence” after an hour-long private discussion.

It also agreed to write separately to the Scottish Government’s top official, the permanent Secretary Leslie Evans, to seek “reassurance” on the government’s procedures.

The committee is examining the collapse of the Government’s misconduct probe into Mr Salmond.

The former First Minister, who was accused of misconduct by two female civil servants relating to his time in office in 2013, successfully challenged the process in court.

He forced ministers to disclose previously secret files which showed the lead investigating official was in prior contact with his accusers.

That rendered process unfair, unlawful and “tainted by apparent bias”, and left taxpayers with a £500,000 legal bill after Mr Salmond won a judicial review at the Court of Session in January.

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The committee is examining the “actions of the First Minister, Scottish Government officials and special advisers” in relation to the probe.

It is also looking at Ms Sturgeon’s secret meetings and calls with Mr Salmond during last year’s probe, which her critics say breached the ministerial code.

The MSPs are working in private to avoid prejudicing separate legal proceedings involving Mr Salmond, who appeared in court in January charged with two counts of attempted rape, nine of sexual assault, two of indecent assault and one breach of the peace. 

He strongly denies any criminality.

The committee wrote to Ms Evans in February saying it expected full cooperation from ministers and their officials, a move dubbed the “no shredding” directive by one MSP.

READ MORE: Salmond inquiry warns SNP government not to shred evidence

Ms Evans replied last week, saying “specific staff who may hold documents which may be relevant to the Committee’s remit” had been instructed not to delete them.

She said she had also instructed that “any relevant files” which would normally be destroyed in line with the government’s housekeeping rules would be preserved.

Ms Evans said she had also halted the “automated deletion” of specific people’s electronic records for “a set timeframe”, but did identify the users, the timeframe, or whether material had already been deleted.

The letter failed to satisfy the MSPs, who now want more details.

Convener Linda Fabiani said: “We considered the response [from Ms Evans] and we will be writing back to the Scottish Government for clarification of some points and some additional reassurance of some points.  

"The Committee also very much welcomed the statement previously made by the First Minister in Parliament on 17 January 2019 regarding cooperation, openness and transparency and also decided that we will write to the First Minister. 

“The letter to the First Minister will reflect the statement that she made and it will be relevant to the preservation of evidence which may be relevant to the remit this inquiry.”