Bain rejects corruption accusations amid calls to resign

Dorothy Bain KC

Ms Bain wrote to John Swinney in January informing him that Mr Murrell had been accused of embezzling almost £460,000 from the party – weeks before the information was made public.

Mr Murrell, 61, is accused of embezzling £459,000 from the SNP between 2010 and 2023. He has yet to enter a plea. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 25 May.

Ms Bain rejected allegations of impropriety, telling Holyrood she had acted to safeguard, not influence, the judicial process.

The lord advocate, whose role violates the separation of powers by being functionally identical to both an attorney general and director of public prosecutions, was questioned after her email to Mr Swinney was first reported in the Scottish Sun.

During an urgent question, Labour’s Michael Marra asked why the details of the charge were included in a memo that was also circulated to senior civil servants and special advisers. He said the information “conferred clear political advantage” on the first minister and suggested “political interference” in the prosecution.

Mr Marra argued that the positions of both the first minister and the lord advocate had been “compromised”.

The Scottish Conservative leader, Russell Findlay, said the move “smacks of corruption”. He claimed it had given the SNP a “clear” advantage ahead of May’s Holyrood election and “endangered the lord advocate’s position of neutrality”.

Asked by Mr Findlay whether she was considering stepping down, Ms Bain replied: “I am not considering my position.”

She added: “I have had no involvement in this case and any suggestion that I am corrupt or my position is compromised I roundly reject.”

Ms Bain said the memo had not been requested by ministers and insisted they had not been granted “preferential access”. She also denied that the email conferred any “political advantage” on the government.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has repeatedly stated that Ms Bain is not involved in the Murrell case because it concerns politicians.

Addressing MSPs, the lord advocate said the purpose of her email was to confirm the indictment and the nature of the charge, to reiterate that she was not involved in the prosecution and to remind ministers to avoid “speculation and inappropriate commentary”.

She described it as “normal practice” to share such information with the first minister, adding that decisions were taken on a case-by-case basis.

However, when pressed for examples of similar instances, Ms Bain said she would respond in writing.

She also told the chamber that the memo had been sent in the knowledge that the indictment would become public – which it did on 13 February, almost a month later.

Scottish Conservative MSP Douglas Ross said that after the first minister’s office had received the email, the Crown Office had been telling journalists that only the date of the preliminary hearing could be reported.