ALEX Salmond has lodged a formal complaint about an official who is alleged to have disclosed the name of a woman who made claims against him.
A spokesman for the former first minister said a complaint has been lodged with the Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government.
He said: "Mr Salmond has lodged a formal complaint with the Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government under the civil service code, on the conduct of the official who is alleged to have breached civil service rules, by disclosing the name of a complainant in the Scottish Government process."
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon says Alex Salmond used social media to identify complainer
It comes as Nicola Sturgeon gives evidence to a Holyrood inquiry into the debacle.
The cross-party committee is looking at how the Scottish Government bungled its probe into sexual misconduct allegations levelled against Mr Salmond in 2018.
He had the exercise set aside in a judicial review by showing it had been tainted by apparent bias, a flaw that left taxpayers with a £512,000 bill for his costs.
Mr Salmond's former chief of staff, Geoff Aberdein, has claimed the name of a complainer was shared with him by a Scottish Government official in March 2018.
Two witnesses have confirmed to the inquiry that Mr Aberdein told them this at the time.
Ms Sturgeon has said this is not true, to the best of her knowledge, and that Mr Salmond already knew the identity of one of the women who complained as he had apologised following an incident.
He worked out the identity of another woman who accused him of sexual misconduct by trawling social media, she said.
The First Minister faced repeated questions over the claims as she gave evidence this morning.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon denies wanting to 'get' Alex Salmond
MSPs raised concerns any leak of a complainant's name would represent a serious breach of confidentiality.
Giving evidence to MSPs about a meeting she and Mr Salmond had at her Glasgow home on April 2, 2018, Ms Sturgeon said: “Alex Salmond was open with me about the identity of one complainant, because he knew.
“He knew about the identity of one complainant because he knew about the incident, because he had apologised to the person concerned.
“I can’t recall if the name of the other complainant was shared openly on April 2.
“He also knew the identity of that complainant because I remember him talking about how he had gone through the Scottish Government Flickr account to find out who had been with him on particular days.
“He knew the identity of both complainants, in one respect because he knew about the incident and in the other respect through his own investigations.”
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