SNP: Nicola Sturgeon 'certain' she has done nothing wrong

June 18, 2023

Nicola Sturgeon is "certain" she has done nothing wrong after being arrested and questioned by the police.

The former SNP leader was speaking in public for the first time since her arrest this time last week.

She said: "What I will say is reiterate the statement I issued last Sunday, which is I am certain that I have done nothing wrong.

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"I intend to be back in [the Scottish] parliament in the early part of the week. I'll make myself available for questions then, obviously within the constraints that I am referring to right now.

"For now, I intend to go home, catch up with some family."

She declined to answer a question from Scotland correspondent Connor Gillies, who asked if "Nicola Sturgeon would suspend Nicola Sturgeon".

Ms Sturgeon's arrest as Police Scotland investigates the spending of £600,000 that was raised for campaigning for independence.

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It is understood there have been complaints the ringfenced cash has been used improperly by being spent elsewhere.

As well as Ms Sturgeon, her husband and former party chief executive Peter Murrell has also been questioned by the police and released without charge.

Similarly, SNP treasurer Colin Beattie was arrested, questioned and released.

There had been calls for Ms Sturgeon to resign the party whip following her detention, or for successor Humza Yousaf to remove her from the Holyrood SNP caucus.

But it was confirmed last week that no such action would be taken against Ms Sturgeon.

Asked whether she has considered stepping back from the SNP, she said: "I've done nothing wrong, and that is the only thing I'm going to assert today."

She added: "I know I'm a public figure, I accept what comes with that, but I'm also a human being that's entitled to a bit of privacy, and my neighbours are also entitled to a bit of that as well."

She said no conditions had been placed on her arrest, but did not go into further details about her current situation.

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