ALEX Salmond has stepped up his battle with Nicola Sturgeon’s Government accusing it of trying to “malign his reputation”.

The former First Minister’s lawyer has argued the administration is trying to use the Holyrood inquiry set up to examine the mishandling of complaints against his client to damage him and avoid scrutiny of its own failures in the case.

In a letter published today David McKie, of Levy & McRae, told the committee set up to carry out the probe that Salmond believes the Government is trying to put material into the public domain which had already been ruled unlawful and defective or "reduced" in legal terminology.

He stated that the Government’s actions were “extraordinary” and an attempt not to "account for their own unlawful actions". 

McKie asked MSPs to make it "absolutely explicit" to the Scottish Government and the wider public that there is no desire on the part of the committee to recover any of the documents reduced by the court which he said would be irrelevant to the Holyrood inquiry under its published remit. He added that providing such clarity would be "vital to our client and to the public". 

“To be clear, any attempt to share or publish documents which have been either reduced by the Court of Session (as unlawful), or which would breach the undertaking given by the Government and recorded by the Court, would defeat entirely the purpose and effect of the court action successfully undertaken by our client," he wrote.

“The only possible explanation for seeking to take such a step appears to our client to be a desire unjustifiably to malign his reputation, rather than account for their own unlawful actions. 

“The questions and the remit for the committee are about the actions of the First Minister, Scottish Government officials and special advisers in dealing with complaints about Alex Salmond. 

“The Committee’s own remit and published approach to evidence makes clear that the content of these documents is irrelevant."

And yet, our client (as a private citizen) remains under threat of an attempt to produce material contrary to the legal obligations freely entered into at the time of the action being conceded."

The letter goes on: “We remind you that the sharing of such tainted and unlawful documents would undermine the very purpose of our client proceeding with what he made clear at the time was taken as a last resort on his part and which only followed what appears to have been an illegal data leak of that material to a tabloid newspaper in August 2018. 

“We would therefore invite the Committee to make absolutely explicit to the Scottish Government, and the public, that there is no desire or interest on the part of the Committee to recover any of the documents reduced by the Court or subject to any undertaking given. Providing that clarity is vital to our client, and to the public. 

“It will also be of direct relevance should this matter ever require to go back before Lord Pentland [the judge who presided over the judicial review].” 

The lawyer's letter was dated October 5 this year and released by the inquiry this morning It follows a tranche of evidence being published by the committee including Nicola Sturgeon's written submission.

The inquiry is looking at how the Government botched a probe into sexual misconduct claims made against Salmond in 2018.

The former First Minister had the exercise set aside in a judicial review at the Court of Session, showing the whole exercise had been “tainted by apparent bias”.

The Government’s mistake - it appointed a lead investigator who had been in prior contact with Salmond’s accusers - left taxpayers with a £512,000 bill for his costs.

At the time, the Government gave an explicit undertaking not to share the findings of its probe, or the material behind it, without the court’s permission.

The Government promised the Court on 8 January 2019 that “save insofar as necessary to comply with any lawful requirement, to cooperate with any criminal investigation, or as may otherwise be approved by the Court, [ministers] will not cause or permit the publication or dissemination to any other person of the said Investigating Officer’s report or any statements or other material taken or prepared by her in the course of preparing the same”. 

However last month, deputy first minister John Swinney told the inquiry the Government now planned to return to court to clarify the exact extent of that undertaking.

He said: “The Scottish Government therefore intends to initiate legal proceedings to seek a ruling from the Court on whether certain specific documentation which the Scottish Government holds is, or is not, covered by that undertaking. 
“The Scottish Government’s position is in favour of the release of those documents. 

“Once such a ruling is available more material may become available to be shared with the Committee at that point.”

It is this which has triggered the furious response from Salmond's lawyer.
The inquiry has said that it has not requested the material covered by the Government undertaking.

Shortly after his civil court victory against the Government, Salmond was charged with sexual assault leading to a trial this year at which he was acquitted on all 13 counts.

His supporters claim the civil and criminal cases are part of a high-level conspiracy to ruin him and stop him making a political comeback and rivalling his estranged successor.

Sturgeon has denied plotting against Salmond, dismissing such views as a "heap of nonsense".