THE Scottish Government has been told to “come clean” over the cost to the taxpayer of fighting Alex Salmond’s judicial review into the handling of sexual harassment complaints.

The call comes after the deputy first minister, John Swinney, refused to disclose the full cost to the Government of fighting that legal challenge.

Last January the judge said the probe was unlawful and “tainted by apparent bias” because the lead investigating officer had been in prior contact with the two complainers.

Salmond was awarded substantial costs of £512,000. Another £118,000 was spent by the Scottish Government on advice from a QC.

But the Government has refused to tell Labour’s Jackie Baillie how much it cost for a group of senior civil servants to work on the judicial review for several months. 

In answer to the Labour MSP’s parliamentary question, Swinney said it wasn’t possible to work out the sum as staff working on responding to the judicial review were civil servants “who receive a salary rather than being separately remunerated for dealing with particular matters.”

He added: “In addition, they do not record the proportion of their time that they spend working on particular matters as a matter of course. It is therefore not possible to say how many hours were spent by civil servants involved in this work.”

Baillie said: “This is the latest example of the secrecy and obstruction that this committee has faced from the Scottish Government and it is quite simply unacceptable.

“We know that the judicial review cost a significant amount of public money. It is vital that the Scottish Government comes clean over just how big that bill was.

“In the last few months we have all seen the depth of secrecy and obfuscation practiced by the highest level of the Scottish Government. This is undignified, undemocratic and unacceptable: It must end.”

The row comes after the convener of the Holyrood inquiry into the Scottish Government’s botched handling of the Salmond complaints said they were being “obstructed” by key witnesses.

MSP Linda Fabiani said members were still waiting on responses to questions from the Scottish Government, SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, and Salmond. 

Fabiani said: “The committee continues to be completely frustrated with the lack of evidence and, quite frankly, obstruction it is experiencing.

“We had hoped to be in a position to hear further oral evidence, but with responses still outstanding from the Scottish Government, chief executive of the SNP and the former First Minister, all of this means that we simply cannot proceed at this stage.

“We have no choice but to meet in private again next week to review the evidence we have received to date. But I would urge all those we have approached to engage productively with the Committee so it can get on with the task in hand.”

Sturgeon has previously told parliament that the inquiry would be “able to request whatever material they want”.

She promised MSPs her government “will provide whatever material they request”.

The First Minister added: “That is the definition of full, thorough and open inquiries.

“My commitment is that the government and I will cooperate fully with it, which is, I think, appropriate.”

However, ministers have repeatedly refused to hand over documents requested by the  committee, citing legal privilege.