ONE of the women who made sexual assault allegations against Alex Salmond has said an ongoing Holyrood inquiry into the saga has been more traumatic in many ways than the criminal trial.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, accused the inquiry of making it "significantly harder" for women to come forward with complaints. 

She said members of the committee have taken the alleged experiences of the women and "exploited them for their own self-serving political interests". 

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon's appearance before Salmond inquiry postponed

The woman was one of nine who gave evidence against Mr Salmond during his High Court trial last year. 

The former first minister was cleared of all charges. 

MSPs on the Holyrood inquiry are looking at how the Scottish Government botched its own probe into sexual misconduct claims made against Mr Salmond by two civil servants in 2018. 

Speaking anonymously on the BBC's The Sunday Show, the woman dismissed claims the allegations were part of a conspiracy to bring Mr Salmond down. 

She said: "It is utterly absurd to suggest that nine women could be persuaded to lie to the police, to perjure themselves in court."

She said the inquiry process has been "actually in many ways more traumatic than the experience of the High Court trial".

She added: "You actually now have what was a glimmer of hope in a committee, thinking that they could be impartial, that they could properly investigate the Government, that they could contribute towards ensuring that sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace was no longer an issue – instead what has happened is they have taken your very personal experiences and they have exploited them for their own self-serving political interests. 

"And that, in and of itself, is something that is really traumatic."

The woman said the committee has "turned this into a political fight, when really this should be about ensuring that the workplace can be safe for women in Scotland".

She said: "The thing that's really disappointing, particularly through the committee process, is that the fact that committee members have turned this into a political fight has effectively allowed the Government to get away with not being properly scrutinised by members on its procedures."

The woman added: "I think that this has made it much harder for women to be believed and for women to be able to come forward."

She said: "I think the committee has strayed so far from its own remit that it has made any of its findings completely useless.

"I think that they really had an opportunity to ensure that they could investigate the creation of procedures that would make it safe and easy for women to come forward and they have made it significantly harder."

SNP MSP Linda Fabiani, convener of the Holyrood inquiry, said the woman's comments were "very hard to hear".

She told the BBC: "I am really sorry that people feel that way, that these women feel that way - absolutely sorry.

"I can only apologise for myself I can't apologise for anybody else, that's up to them.

"I absolutely apologise for the way that things have gone that makes any complainant feel that we have exploited them."

She said the Scottish Parliament charged the committee with a job to do "and we have to do that job".

It comes after senior judge Lady Dorrian agreed to vary a court order made during Mr Salmond's criminal trial last year.

His team hopes the move will allow evidence he submitted to the inquiry to be published, paving the way for his appearance in person in the coming weeks. 

A spokeswoman for Mr Salmond said: "Alex has been through two very lengthy and public legal processes, the first of which established that he had been treated unlawfully by the Government and the second established his innocence on all charges.

"The parliamentary inquiry is not into alleged conduct on which he was cleared nearly a year ago, but is instead on the unlawful actions of the Government and its officials.

"His acquittal last March followed an exhaustive and comprehensive police and crown investigation and a lengthy trial before fifteen members of the public who heard and assessed all of the evidence.

"It is not for the BBC or indeed the committee to question them.

"Alex continues to have great faith in the jury system and the Scottish courts.

"After Lady Dorrian publishes her written judgement, Alex looks forward to presenting his final evidence to the committee and then seeing it published."