THE Holyrood inquiry into the botched handling of complaints against Alex Salmond has bypassed the Scottish Government to ask Scotland’s highest court for access to documents relating to the case against the former First Minister.
The Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints is taking the unusual step after convener Linda Fabiani claimed they were being "obstructed" in their inquiry.
In a letter to the Principal Clerk at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Fabiani said MSPs had decided to approach the court directly, “given the importance of these proceedings and the time constraints on the Committee in fulfilling its remit”,
She added: “We consider that having sight of some of the court documents is essential to enable the Committee to meet the terms of its remit.”
“I would therefore be grateful if you could please confirm:
“1) Whether, or to what extent the Court is able to make the court process in this case available to the Committee.
“2) If so, details as to which documents and in what manner access to them might be provided.”
The committee asked for "all productions or evidence lodged in process by parties" as well as all affidavits, judicial decisions, pleadings, all information pertaining to legal fees/costs/expenses and all other formal court documents.
Yesterday, Fabiani revealed that the inquiry was being "obstructed" and that MSPs were being "completely frustrated".
She said the committee had yet to get responses to its requests from the Scottish Government, the SNP's chief executive Peter Murrell and Salmond.
"The Committee continues to be completely frustrated with the lack of evidence and, quite frankly, obstruction it is experiencing," she said in a statement.
"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."
She added: “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.”
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