Furious Salmond attacks Holyrood inquiry for not publishing his evidence

He said that meant the material could not be included in the inquiry’s final report, making “a mockery” of the parliament’s commitment to openness and transparency.

His spokeswoman said Mr Salmond, who is due to give oral evidence on Tuesday, would consult his advisers tomorrow “as to where this leaves his evidence and what to do now”.

It is unclear if he is reconsidering giving testimony.

The inquiry is looking at how the Scottish Government botched its probe into sexual misconduct claims made against him by civil servants in 2018.

He had the exercise overturned in a judicial review, showing it was “tainted by apparent bias”, a Government flaw that left taxpayers with a £512,000 for his costs.

He was later charged with sexual assault but cleared on all counts at a High Court trial last March.

After the Government’s defence of the civil case collapsed in January 2019, Ms Sturgeon admitted meeting Mr Salmond three times while he was under investigation by her officials.

She told MSPs the first she learned of the probe was when Mr Salmond told her at her Glasgow home on April 2, 2018. She then met him again in June and July. 

Each time he argued the complaints would be better resolved by mediation.

READ MORE: Alex Salmond accuses Nicola Sturgeon of giving 'untrue' evidence to Holyrood inquiry

Despite the subject matter being the Government probe, Ms Sturgeon told Holyrood she took the meetings in her capacity as SNP leader, and so there were no officials present and the meetings were not minuted.

After referring herself to the independent adviser on the Scottish ministerial code, James Hamilton, she is now being investigated over a possible breach of it, a potential resignation issue.

The opposition parties say she failed in her duty to report the meetings fully and timeously to her officials.

She denies wrongdoing.

Mr Salmond recently made a detailed submission to Mr Hamilton asking him to broaden the Government-set scope of his investigation to look at whether Ms Sturgeon misled MSPs, which Mr Hamilton agreed to so.

Mr Salmond later shared the submission with the inquiry - but the Daily Record reported today that it had refused to publish it on legal and data protection grounds, despite it now being in the public domain.

A Holyrood spokesperson told the Record: “No, the Committee [of inquiry] won’t be publishing that. Mr Salmond has been made aware of that.

"All material published by the Committee is done so in line with its statement on the handling of information.

"That makes it clear that the Committee must comply with relevant court orders as well as its obligations under GDPR [data rules] and ECHR [human rights law]."

The inquiry has, however, published other evidence submitted by Mr Salmond and his lawyers, including his claim that the Scottish Government behaved dishonestly and disgracefully during the judicial review.

READ MORE: Alex Salmond says shady behaviour of Nicola Sturgeon's government 'a disgrace'

Mr Salmond’s spokeswoman said: “This is a quite extraordinary development. 

“It would be one thing to remove a sentence or so but to suppress the whole submission is simply farcical.  

“It means that it can’t even be considered for inclusion in the Committee’s report. 

“In one letter the Convener seems to have wiped out the entire strand of her own Committee’s Inquiry into the Ministerial Code and dispatched the submission into a black hole. 

“Alex will consult with his advisers tomorrow afternoon as to where this leaves his evidence and what to do now. 

“Obviously everything that Alex has submitted has conformed to all legal requirements and there is no possible justification whatsoever for this decision which makes a mockery of the Parliament’s commitment to openness and transparency.”

Inquiry convener Linda Fabiani and Alex Salmond

In his submission to Mr Hamilton, a former Irish prosecutor, Mr Salmond said some of Ms Sturgeon’s claims about their 2018 meetings were “simply untrue” and “untenable”.

He said Holyrood had been "repeatedly misled" about the nature of the April 2, 2018 meeting, and that Ms Sturgeon had helped arrange it four days earlier on the express understanding that it was to discuss the Government probe rather than SNP business.

He said the earlier meeting, on 29 March 2018, took place in Ms Sturgeon’s Holyrood office, where Mr Salmond’s former chief of staff, Geoff Aberdein, explained the background to her.

Mr Sturgeon later told the inquiry and parliament she had “forgotten” about this earlier meeting, despite its dramatic content, as it had been a busy day at Holyrood.

Mr Salmond said in his submission: "The First Minister’s claim that it was ever thought to be about anything other than the complaints made against me is wholly false.

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"The repeated representation to the Parliament of the meeting on the 2nd April 2018 as being a ‘party’ meeting because it proceeded in ignorance of the complaints is false and manifestly untrue." 

After Mr Salmond’s submission was made public, Ms Sturgeon’s spokesman accused him of trying to divert focus away from his own behaviour “by seeking to malign the reputation of the First Minister and by spinning false conspiracy theories”. 

Ms Sturgeon is due to give her side of the affair at the inquiry on February 16.