NICOLA Sturgeon is paying her own legal fees amid the ongoing investigation into SNP finances, the party have said.

We previously told how the former first minister was arrested and released without charge on Sunday. 

Now, the SNP have said that the former first minister is paying her own solicitor’s fees. 

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon releases statement following arrest

It comes as it was revealed last month that taxpayers are being billed up to £245,000 to cover the cost of Boris Johnson's partygate inquiry lawyers. 

The former prime minister resigned as a Tory MP last Friday after the Privileges Committee concluded he had misled parliament. 

Humza Yousaf previously said the party would not be paying former chief executive Peter Murrell’s legal costs after he was arrested in April. 

The police probe - known as Operation Branchform - is looking at how more than £600,000 donated to the party by activists for independence campaigning has been spent. 

In a statement on social media, Sturgeon said she believed she was innocent "beyond doubt", and added that she would "never do anything to harm either the SNP or the country".