Nicola Sturgeons ex admits embezzling £400k

[Viviennemary]

Just read this in the DM. I'm a bit shocked tbh. It's a lot of money. I wonder what he spent it on. There was a camper van mentioned ages ago but they don't cost that much. Honestly these folk.

I am very surprised he has been remanded though before sentencing given how we are getting told how overcrowded prisoners are at present.
I certainly don’t see him as a flight risk

Do enlightened us on what did happen then. We all know the motor home was parked at his mother’s house

I think it's appropriate given the scale, and the fact it's likely he'll face a harsher sentence than a typical 400k embezzlement would. It's not just money misappropriated from an employer, it's political party funding largely derived from membership fees and donations, so there is an element of "undermining/eroding trust in politics" and technically, ripping off the public, so I reckon he's going to have the book thrown at him so to speak.

Lalique salt and pepper grinders 🤣. That’s very Cathy from Two Doors Down

As I said, he falsified documentation to portray this as a party spend to acquire a party asset, so there is no reason for NS to question where they, as a couple, got the funds for this, because there was never any contention that "the Murrells" were acquiring a campervan.

I don’t think you would immediately jump to the conclusion of embezzlement, but not unreasonable to wonder if the dh was running up huge credit card bills.

@XDownwiththissortofthingX The bigger issue is that the SNP didn’t notice! It was their money so what accounting rules were in place and who was responsible for audit of accounts? How did funds raised for a party get into his hands without anyone knowing? It’s atrociously poorly run.

Yes, unbelievable!
Did they have no mandates in place?
who was signing off his dodgy receipts?

I read somewhere that both he and Nicola were signatories on the accounts.

Surely that would mean she either knew something was going on, or was negligent by not knowing when she should have.

I'm entirely in agreement.

It's the stridence of the "NS knew" people I don't agree with. The police investigation lasted nearly 5 years, if she was as up to her neck in it as people are maintaining, I think it's inevitable there would have been some legal consequence.

The actual Treasurer of the SNP, Colin Beattie, was also arrested, interviewed extensively, then released without charge and later told he was no longer part of the investigation. If you'd expect anyone to have twigged something was amiss, or to be part of some sort of conspiracy to embezzle, it would be him, but apparently the Police are entirely happy this was Murrell acting off his own back.

As you allude to, there are clearly short-comings in how SNP finances were being managed, and a lack of scrutiny/good practice, it's the seeming inability to accept that one opportunistic individual took advantage of this I don't really understand. I've had access to the funds of an organisation in a past role myself. I had limited spending powers that I could use with impunity. There was nothing stopping me theoretically abusing this other than my own sense of morality and the fact audit might, only might mind you, have detected it at a later date. It's really not all that surprising to me that a less upstanding individual might succumb to temptation in similar circumstances, and especially so when the vulnerable amounts are far larger than anything I could ever have got my hands on.

I believe the Tories also have a magic money tree.

Do not forget the Lalique salt and pepper grinders (£2,600)!!

Also don't forget:

a pencil sharpener from the brand Caran d'Ache, at £110.

If I'd known he needed a sharpener he could have had the one I got in a Christmas cracker. He only had to ask.

Whether NS knew or not, she should have known (joint signatories on Accounts).
Add in 'Wheesht for Indy' methods.
Add in continued ignoring of Supreme Court rulings (the SNP way or the highway)
Add in the facts that it's taken, what 2 years, and it conveniently gets to Court a couple of weeks after the Scottish Election.
It all stinks to High Heaven. Alex Salmond will be rolling g in his lair.

His ex wife has stolen a lot more than £400k from the Scottish people! NS and her independence scam has had millions of pounds stashed away that was meant to go to schools and hospitals. Shes well aware about the ££ her husband stole!

Mr Murrell, meet your cellmate, Isla Brice.

Gold wallpaper anyone?

So he's no longer claiming that it was a 'battle bus'...

Sad that this stuff is the best you can come up with when you have your stolen money. A slouch pouch onesie - really? That's clearly worth going to jail for. I like nice things and could/have spent money on stupid things but if I was facing jail I might think those coffee machines and that onesie were not worth it

But honestly...leaving it in the drive of his mother's house in Dunfermline?

Pretty sure most people who have daily use of a company vehicle have parked it on private property at some point.

So far as I'm aware, the vehicle was never used as a battle bus. It simply sat on the driveway without moving anywhere.

Extra accommodation for visitors? Who knows.

So will the Lalique salt and pepper grinders make an appearance at the SNP yearly conference. You couldn't make it up. It's a comedy show. Maybe the £4k fountain pen can be used to sign the independence document rather than a bic biro.

I’m surprised his wife didn’t notice the upswing in household accounts. 🤐

Yes, I just don't see the fact it was sat on his mother's drive as something significant in and of itself. It has to be parked somewhere, and short of renting some sort of space for it, an empty, unused driveway of a relative would be convenient. It can't be parked at SNP HQ given it's on a narrow lane with no vehicular access, so I think it was stuck there out of convenience rather than anything nefarious. Again, it's perfectly normal for people with "company" cars to park them on their own drives and nobody jumps to the conclusion there is something untoward about this.

There was the US SCOTUS Justice and a campervan. But that was a $267k camper.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas questioned on RV loan (cnbc.com)

I am not deflecting here. Just saw your post and thought of this story.

Everything is bigger in the USA after all.