FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said the decision to settle Alex Salmond's civil case against the Scottish Government is "deeply regrettable".
Former First Minister Salmond, whose case focused on how sexual misconduct complaints against him were handled by the Government, today won his legal battle.
READ MORE: READ: Transcript of Alex Salmond’s full press conference after winning case
Speaking at Holyrood, Sturgeon said she had not spoken to her predecessor since July and backed the decision by Scotland's top civil servant, Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans, to settle the case.
Leslie Evans, left, with the First Minister
She said: "It remains my view that the Government was right to begin an investigation when serious complaints were made and not allow them to be swept under the carpet because of the identity of the person complained about."
But she added: "It is deeply regrettable, and perhaps that is an understatement, that as a result of a failure in the proper application of one part of the procedure, the Scottish Government has had to settle this matter."
READ MORE: Alex Salmond calls for resignation of top civil servant
Sturgeon then refused to publicly announce the outcome of the investigation or the substance of the complaints, but she apologised to the two women who had made them, saying they had "every right to expect the process to be robust and beyond reproach ... and to reach a lasting conclusion".
The SNP leader also said that while she met Salmond three times during the investigation and spoke to him twice on the phone, she did not "seek to intervene in the process".
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