Swinney – who was in charge of the party when Peter Murrell was first appointed chief executive of the SNP – said he was “gutted” by the chain of events which led to Operation Branchform.
John Swinney takes questions from reporters after Peter Murrell’s court appearence
John Swinney has said SNP members who donated to an independence fundraiser at the centre of a long-running police investigation into party finances which led to the jailing of Peter Murrell will not be offered refunds.
The First Minister faced the press at 1.30pm today after his former senior party colleague was earlier escorted from the dock at the High Court in Edinburgh after admitting to embezzling more than £400,000.
Murrell, 61, was remanded and will appear before the court again on June 23 for sentencing. He admitted using the party’s money to buy items including a motorhome and luxury goods, and towards the purchase of two cars.
Swinney, who was last week formally re-elected as Scotland’s First Minister, said the “level of personal horror” he felt over Murrell’s crimes was “difficult for me to properly convey”.
Describing it as being a “tough day” for the party, Swinney said bluntly: “I am gutted by this today.” He said “sorry to the people who are affected” by Murrell’s crimes, saying that the money had been “stolen” from the party.
“It is the conduct of Peter Murrell that has got us into that position,” the First Minister stressed.
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Operation Branchform – the police investigation that ultimately led to Murrell’s conviction – was launched in July 2021 to investigate how the SNP spent more than £600,000 of donations intended for a second independence referendum campaign.
Nicola Sturgeon, Murrell’s estranged wife, had announced in 2017 the SNP would push for a second referendum on independence following the 2016 Brexit vote. The party launched a #ScotRef fundraising appeal that same day.
But the online crowdfunder was closed after the June 2017 general election – which saw the SNP’s vote share drop – having raised almost half of its £1m target.
Asked if he would apologise to those who donated, and whether they would get their money back, the First Minister said: “Party members have made those donations to the SNP. We don’t have that money, it’s been stolen from us.
“I can confidently say to members of the party that the money they donate to us is used to further the aims and objectives of the SNP, and it always will be.
“I feel the same way as party members. I’m one of those people who donates to the SNP as well. So I feel the hurt and the anger and the betrayal the party members feel. What I’ve done is made sure the SNP has good governance and good financial management in place.”
Asked why he was so resistant to offering party members a refund, given Murrell stole from an organisation that failed to safeguard donations, Swinney said: “I come back to the point I made earlier – the actions of Peter Murrell, as described in the police’s statement, talk about carefully trying to hide his criminality, with false receipts and accounting.
“It’s wholescale deception. It’s deceiving the systems in place to exercising control, and deceiving the people who are the sources of donations to the party.
“The collective victim is the Scottish National Party, but there are multiple victims who have contributed the resource.
“Members of the party, in my view, given that money for its proper purpose, and they would want us to continue to proceed to do all that we can to achieve the greatest that we can with the resources available to us.”
A pro-independence campaigner whose police complaint sparked Peter Murrell’s conviction had earlier called for the SNP to offer to pay back supporters after the embezzlement by the former party chief executive.
Sean Clerkin also revealed he had been threatened by pro-indy backers who were unhappy he had gone to the police.
In an interview with the Record, Clerkin said: “I am relieved for the people who gave the money. Thousands of people donated to an independence fund that was meant to be ring fenced but the money was misused and used for personal gain.
“A lot of those families were fleeced out of their money. I know personally some of the people.
“They are angry, firstly, that they have not been apologised to by the SNP and number two, they have not been offered a refund.”
The police launched a probe when they received several complaints that having raised more than £600,000 in donations for independence campaigning, the SNP had less than £100,000 in the bank.
Some of those who had given cash demanded to know where it had gone. Some have previously sought and in a small number of cases received refunds.
