Nicola Sturgeon is promising to discuss her career "with candour" as she continues to promote her book this week while her estranged husband the former SNP chief executive is behind bars.
The former First Minister will speak at a literary event in the Irish Republic about her memoir Frankly three days after Peter Murrell was remanded in custody at the High Court in Edinburgh after pleading guilty to embezzling £400,310.65 from the SNP.
Murrell, 61, admitted the charges when he appeared at the court on Monday morning.
Ms Sturgeon has denied any knowledge or suspicion of items Murrell bought after he admitted embezzling the money using it to buy items, including luxury goods and a motorhome, and towards the purchase of two cars between August 2010 and October 2022.
A top police officer said Murrell diverted the cash from the SNP to "bankroll the lavish lifestyle he craved but could not afford".
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Ms Sturgeon, who led the SNP from November 2014 to April 2023, is speaking at the Listowel Writers' Week Literary Festival in County Kerry on Thursday afternoon.
She will be interviewed by the Scottish writer Andrew O'Hagan.
The information in the programme about the event states that she will be discussing "Leadership, Resilience and Finding Your Voice".
It adds: "Join Nicola Sturgeon in conversation with Andrew O’Hagan to discuss her first book Frankly, taking readers from her working-class roots to the very heart of Scottish and British politics.
"With candour, insight and warmth, she shares personal achievements and regrets, discusses the challenges of being a woman in a high-stakes political arena, and reveals the person behind the public figure.
"The result is a deeply personal and revealing memoir from one of Britain’s most significant political leaders of recent times. Andrew O’Hagan is an award-winning, Booker-nominated writer and one of the foremost chroniclers of contemporary Britain, acclaimed for both his fiction and influential essays."
Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Jackie Baillie said “Right now I think people are more interested in what was missing from Nicola Sturgeon’s book than what was in it.
“Nicola Sturgeon could use these engagements to fill in some of those gaps and explain how she could be oblivious to the massive fraud going on under her nose that she benefited from.”
Ms Sturgeon, said in a statement on Monday via her lawyers: "Today the media is reporting details of items that my former husband has now admitted buying with SNP funds.
"I have seen questions raised about how I could not have known about this. I want to reiterate that I had no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever that personal items had been purchased using SNP funds.
"I was cleared of any wrongdoing after a lengthy and thorough investigation. In relation to many of the items in question, for example expensive watches and games consoles, I was not aware of them having been purchased at all.
"Indeed in relation to the item of largest value - a campervan - I was not aware of its existence until it featured in the police investigation in early 2023, nor was it parked in our driveway as has been claimed by some."
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She also said in an Instagram story that she was "angry, hurt, sad and very distressed about the impact of his actions on family, friends and the SNP".
"To be deceived and let down by a husband I loved and trusted has caused me acute pain. Why he acted as he did is, and always will be, beyond my comprehension," she wrote.
In court on Monday, Murrell admitted an amended indictment which reduced the amount of the embezzled money down from more than £459,000.
He arrived at the High Court wearing a dark blue suit with a black tie. His guilty plea was tendered on his behalf by his lawyer, John Scullion KC.
Judge Lord Young afterwards told Murrell: “You have pleaded guilty to a charge of embezzlement over a period of 12 years. You embezzled just over £400,000 from the Scottish National Party.
“As the chief executive officer of that organisation throughout that period your actions constitute a gross breach of trust.”
Sentencing is due to take place on June 23.
A list of hundreds of purchases he made using the embezzled funds included designer kitchenware, multiple pairs of shoes, expensive pens and a £1,200 space telescope.
The former party boss was first arrested in April 2023 as part of the police investigation into the SNP’s finances, and was charged in April 2024.
He appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in March 2025 where he faced a charge of embezzlement, making no plea.
The indictment included allegations that in 2020 Murrell used party funds to buy a £124,550 motorhome for his own personal use, and that he falsified accounting records in an effort to cover up his wrongdoing.
Until he stood down in 2023 during the leadership race to succeed Ms Sturgeon, Murrell had been chief executive of the SNP for more than 20 years.
They had previously been one of the most powerful couples in UK politics for many years, with Ms Sturgeon serving for more than eight years as Scottish first minister and SNP leader, while Mr Murrell was the chief executive of the party.
In January last year, Ms Sturgeon announced she and Murrell had “decided to end” their marriage.
In a statement posted on social media Ms Sturgeon, who stepped down as an MSP at the Holyrood election earlier this month, said her reaction was “difficult to put into words”.
Murrell’s conviction is the result of a police investigation called Operation Branchform, which was first launched in 2021.
The operation investigated the SNP’s funding and finances and involved several high-profile arrests.
The policing cost of the long-running investigation reached more than £2 million.
The SNP lost Ms Sturgeon's former Glasgow Southiside at the May 7 election with the Greens taking the seat.
