Ex-Scottish leader Sturgeon's husband charged with embezzlement of party funds

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her husband, SNP Chief Executive Peter Murrell, arrive to attend the National Service of Thanksgiving held at St Paul’s Cathedral, during Britain’s Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, in London, Britain, June 3, 2022 Daniel Leal/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) -Police have charged Peter Murrell, the husband of former Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon, with embezzlement of funds from her pro-independence Scottish National Party, the BBC and other media reported on Thursday.

Police Scotland said, without naming Murrell, that a 59-year-old man who was arrested earlier on Thursday in an investigation into the SNP’s finances, had now been charged with embezzlement of funds from the party.

Murrell, who was formerly the SNP’s chief executive, was previously arrested in April last year.

Sturgeon, who served as Scotland’s first minister from 2014 until her resignation in February last year, was also arrested last year as part of the same probe and then released without charge. She has denied any wrongdoing.

The investigation has been looking into what happened to more than 600,000 pounds ($754,140) in funding raised by Scottish independence campaigners in 2017 which was supposed to have been ring-fenced, but may have been used for other purposes.

A van is driven, as Police officers stand outside the house of Peter Murrell, the former SNP Chief Executive and husband to former Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, April 6, 2023. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne/File Photo

(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Rosalba O’Brien and Jonathan Oatis)