Russell Findlay has warned John Swinney that his “leadership is unravelling” as the scandal over SNP finances intensifies.
At First Minister’s Questions, the Scottish Conservative leader asked Swinney to come clean on whether taxpayers’ cash was used by Peter Murrell as part of his £400,000 spending spree with stolen money.
Findlay also questioned Swinney on his admission yesterday that money raised by the SNP specifically for an independence referendum campaign had been used on day-to-day spending.
He said this misuse of ringfenced cash was a “betrayal” of Nationalist donors, like former accountant and lifelong SNP member Alistair Cameron, 89, from Hamilton, Lanarkshire, who died in February.
Findlay added that the SNP treated taxpayers and their own members with contempt and that Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon’s “complex web of stories is unravelling”.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: “Peter Murrell stole at least £400,000 from the SNP.
“He simply couldn’t have done this without the protection of his wife Nicola Sturgeon and his childhood friend John Swinney.
“During this crime spree, the SNP was in receipt of more than £10 million of taxpayers’ money.
“Last week John Swinney told me that no public money had been stolen.
“But Mr Swinney also spent years denying the disappearance of ringfenced independence funds… until yesterday when he suddenly changed his story.
“So, is John Swinney still 100 per cent sure that Peter Murrell didn’t get his sticky fingers on any public money?
“The SNP treat taxpayers and their own members with the same contempt.
“Former accountant Alistair Cameron joined the SNP in the 1960s and donated money for years.
“He passed away a few months ago, aged 89.
“His daughter Susan told me that he would have felt betrayed by Murrell’s theft and by those who let him get away with it.
“John Swinney spent years defending every indefensible SNP scandal, but all he has in response to this seedy crime spree is angry deflection.
“John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon’s complex web of stories is unravelling.
“John Swinney must realise that his leadership is also unravelling because of his role in this scandal.”