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Nicola Sturgeon misled a Scottish parliament committee, an investigation into the government’s unlawful handling of harassment allegations against Alex Salmond has concluded.
It comes after a separate independent inquiry by QC James Hamilton cleared the first minister of breaching the ministerial code — a move welcomed by the first minister as “comprehensive, evidence-based and unequivocal” — but said it was up for Holyrood “to decide” whether she misled MSPs.
Publishing their conclusions today, which were partially leaked last week, members probing the Scottish government’s botched handling of harassment allegations against the former first minister said they “find it hard to believe” Ms Sturgeon had “no knowledge of any concerns about inappropriate behaviour on the part of Mr Salmond prior to November 2017”.
The Committee on the Scottish government’s handling of harassment complaints stated: “If she did have such knowledge, then she should have acted upon it. If she did have such knowledge, then she has misled the committee.”
It added there was a “fundamental contradiction” in her evidenceon whether she agreed to intervene in a Scottish Government investigation into complaints by two woman against the former first minister.
It said that, in a meeting at her Glasgow home on April 2 2018, MsSturgeon “did in fact leave Mr Salmond with the impression that she would, if necessary, intervene”.
The report continued: “Her written evidence is therefore an inaccurate account of what happened, and she has misled the committee on this matter.”
The committee said Mr Hamilton’s work — published on Monday — had been “completely separate from the work of our inquiry”.
But the MSPs’ report said: “It remains the case that the ministerial code is also in our remit. We have conducted our own evidence taking on this subject.
“We consider it important that we report to the parliament on the ministerial code in order to fulfil our remit.”
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