ALEX Salmond’s allegations that Nicola Sturgeon broke the ministerial code will be considered by the investigation into the First Minister, the independent arbiter has confirmed.
The former First Minister accused his successor of misleading Parliament with her accounts of when she first knew about sexual harassment allegations made against Salmond.
Salmond was later cleared in the High Court in Edinburgh of all the accusations against him.
Sturgeon initially told Holyrood that she first heard of the sexual misconduct complaints against her predecessor when they met at her home on April 2, 2018, but it later emerged she discussed the allegations with Salmond’s chief of staff, Geoff Aberdein, in her Holyrood office four days earlier.
The SNP leader told the Holyrood inquiry examining the Scottish Government’s botched handling of the sexual harassment allegations against Salmond that she “forgot” about the encounter with Aberdein.
Salmond, in evidence to an investigation about whether Sturgeon broke the ministerial code, claimed she misled MSPs with “false and manifestly untrue” statements.
Asked about the claims, Sturgeon said she does not believe she lied to Parliament and said she is currently “focused 100%” on the Scottish Government’s coronavirus response.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney has since faced repeated calls to expand an investigation into whether the ministerial code was broken following Salmond’s allegations.
Swinney described the claims as “absolute nonsense”, but insisted the investigation by the independent adviser on the Scottish Ministerial Code, James Hamilton, is already able to examine any possible breaches.
Hamilton has now confirmed he will consider the fresh claims, as well as Salmond’s accusation that the First Minister offered to intervene in the Government’s complaints process.
Sturgeon has consistently denied the accusations.
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