THE Scottish Tories have been urged to provide “full disclosure” over the “murky political donations” of Richard Cook, the East Renfrewshire man at the centre of a £435,000 Brexit dark money scandal.
The call came after Jackson Carlaw, the party’s interim leader, admitted that Cook was still a member of his constituency party.
While the Tory MSP said he too wanted to know the truth about the donation, he insisted that it wasn’t his job to ask.
The SNP responded by calling for full transparency. A spokesman said: “This trail of dark money leads directly to the top of the Tory party in Scotland – it is now for Ruth Davidson and Jackson Carlaw to give full disclosure on everything they know about it.
“They should come clean about their personal dealings with Richard Cook and open an investigation into the murky political donations he is behind.
“Mr Cook was far more than just a card-carrying Tory member in the East Renfrewshire branch – he was a leading figure in the party for years, campaigning alongside Ruth Davidson, David Cameron and Jackson Carlaw.”.
Cook, a former vice chair of the Tories, and a former candidate, is the only name linked with the Constitutional Research Council, a shadowy organisation behind a £435,000 donation to Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party. Due to secrecy rules around donations in Northern Ireland, it’s not known who gave the CRC the money.
Cook told the BBC last year that he had not breached electoral law in relation to the DUP donation and, on his behalf, his lawyer Peter Watson has denied any and all suggestions of any wrongdoing.
The Electoral Commission fined the Constitutional Research Council for failing to report the DUP donation, though they have declined to launch a full investigation into the source of cash.
Around half of the the money was used by the DUP to pay for an advert in the Metro, booked by Cook.
The free newspaper isn’t available in Northern Ireland. The money was also spent on online campaigning with the Canadian data analytics firm, Aggregate IQ, used by the official Vote Leave campaign.
READ MORE: EXPLAINED: What is the Scottish Tory 'dark money' scandal?
Richard Cook lives in Jackson Carlaw's constituency
Yesterday, during an interview with the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland, Carlaw was asked if he had contacted Cook to “try to clear up these matters”.
“No,” the Tory replied, adding: “Mr Cook was not acting on behalf of the Conservative party.”
The MSP said he was “perfectly content to support those who believe that he should say who the people were who were behind that money, but those are issues for him and for the DUP”.
Carlaw said Cook was “not an active member” of the Tories, “or an influencer of anything that’s currently happening within Scottish politics, and the Scottish Conservative Party.
“He lives in my constituency, I’ve not now seen him for several years.”
Carlaw told the show’s host, Gary Robertson, that he would like Cook to “say to us where the money came from that underwrote that donation to the Leave campaign, but those are questions for him and the DUP”.
Robertson asked the MSP if he had made any attempt to contact Cook to ask those questions. “No,” he answered.
“That seems a rather strange position if you’d like the answers,” Robertson said.
“Well the questions are actually for Mr Cook and the DUP and it’s for journalists like you to put them to him, not me,” Carlaw replied.
READ MORE: Scottish Tory spin doctor's tweet about 'dark money' goes horribly wrong
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