NICOLA Sturgeon is not being investigated by police "at this time" after the UK Covid Inquiry was told that swathes of WhatsApp messages were "not retained".
The former first minister insisted in a statement on Saturday the inquiry does have messages from her relating to the pandemic.
Some media reports have suggested that Sturgeon could face a police probe after lawyers acting on behalf of the bereaved families in Scotland said they would lodge a criminal complaint with Police Scotland.
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However, the force told Sky News there was "nothing to indicate" currently that the issue was a police matter.
Sturgeon is due to give evidence to the inquiry at the end of January.
Aamer Anwar, the lead solicitor for the Covid bereaved group in Scotland, said that Sturgeon, and others such as Jason Leitch who said deleting messages was a "pre-bed ritual", must answer questions on their motivations for doing so.
“As a former first minister and lawyer, Ms Sturgeon would know there are severe consequences for those in power who choose to delete information with the intention of preventing its disclosure to a public inquiry," Anwar (below) told the Daily Record.
“The trust that my clients had in the Scottish Government being transparent and accountable is left shattered.
“We are now instructed to prepare a criminal complaint to Police Scotland and to ask the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to investigate any potential breaches of the law.”
On Saturday, Sturgeon insisted that she had acted in line with Scottish Government policy in a statement on Twitter/X.
"Contrary to the impression given in some coverage, the Inquiry does have messages between me and those I most regularly communicated with through informal means," Sturgeon said.
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“Although these had not been retained on my own device, I was able to obtain copies which I submitted to the Inquiry last year.
“To be clear, I conducted the Covid response through formal processes from my office in St Andrews House, not through WhatsApp or any other informal messaging platform. I was not a member of any WhatsApp groups.
“The number of people I communicated with through informal messaging at all was limited.
“Also, any handwritten notes made by me were passed to my private office to be dealt with and recorded as appropriate."
It comes after Jamie Dawson KC, lead counsel to the UK Covid Inquiry, told the probe that Sturgeon appeared to have "retained no messages whatsoever" in an exchange with a Scottish Government official.
A spokesperson for Police Scotland told Sky News: "At this time, we've nothing to indicate any police involvement or that this is a policing matter."
It comes as the Scottish LibDems demanded Sturgeon give a personal statement in Holyrood regarding WhatsApp messages.
We told how First Minister Humza Yousaf, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack and clinical director Leitch are all set to give evidence on the second week of the probe's hearings in Edinburgh.
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