MSPs investigating a botched sexual misconduct probe into Alex Salmond have demanded the urgent release of Scottish Government files after becoming fed up with excuses.
The Holyrood inquiry into the Government’s mishandling of the 2018 in-house investigation made its anger plain after officials appeared to hide behind the Covid crisis.
It has now set a firm timetable for the Government to hand over “emails, minutes, notes, texts, papers and WhatsApp messages” in the coming weeks, ahead of public evidence sessions in the autumn.
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It follows increasingly frosty correspondence between committee convener Linda Fabiani and the Scottish Government’s top official, permanent secretary Leslie Evans.
Released by the Scottish Parliament tonight, the emails show the committee asking for information in April and May, but Ms Evans failing to commit to firm dates for handing it over despite the Government already identifying and preserving material.
Last month Ms Evans said key people were “currently playing a central role in the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 response”, a problem complicated by remote working.
Ms Fabiani last week wrote a withering reply expressing “serious concerns” about Ms Evans’s proposed, drawn-out timetable.
Ms Fabiani said: “We recognise that the Scottish Government’s current focus is on the Covid-19 response but the lack of progress to date in receiving any information is the source of much frustration and concern amongst Members across all parties.
“It is also impinging on the Committee’s ability to interrogate what it knows will be a large quantity of information ahead of the forthcoming oral evidence sessions.
“I therefore expect the necessary steps to be put in place to move this process along in order to provide this information in time for our deadline of the end of July.
“Or, if that is not possible, I would welcome a clear explanation of why that is the case.”
The committee was mothballed last year after Mr Salmond was charged with sexual assaults relating to his time in office, but restarted after his acquittal on all 13 counts in March.
Its focus is the Government’s probe into two complaints of sexual misconduct made against Mr Salmond in 2018 by two female civil servants.
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The former First Minister later won a judicial review at the Court of Session in January 2019 after the Government admitted the probe, overseen by Ms Evans, was unfair, unlawful and “tainted by apparent bias” because the investigating officer had been in prior contact with the complainants, landing taxpayers with a £500,000 bill for Mr Salmond’s legal costs.
Nicola Sturgeon then admitted staying in contact with Mr Salmond while he was being investigated by her officials.
The MSPs will examine how the Government probe was bungled, as well Ms Sturgeon’s conduct.
A separate investigation into whether Ms Sturgeon broke the ministerial code has also been restarted since Mr Salmond’s trial.
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