Does anyone believe Nicola Sturgeon?

[OverlyFragrant]

As per title, does anyone actually believe NS with her claims she had no idea her husband stole £400k, didn't notice the MANY luxury items just appearing around her home, and is a victim in his deceit?

Also, I think she probably knew about the motorhome but might not of known what it cost. I would think a motorhome then was maybe £50-70k. Again, for someone on a good salary with presumably by then a paid off mortgage entirely affordable. I wouldn’t have assumed my husband stole the money to fund it. So that bit I think is a lie on her part (knowledge of it) but I don’t think it follows she knew he had embezzled.

She’s a born liar.

Only some people who are ‘into’ shopping and know about brands would be aware that some of these items were ridiculously overpriced. I’m pretty sure my DH or DM couldn’t even imagine salt grinders costing more than about £50. Many people wouldn’t know the brand Mont Blanc.
And the £400k was over 12 years!
Trying to clear out our kitchen at the moment and have discovered we have so many duplicates of items (including 4 slow cookers!) which my DH bought over the years- all with his own money!! Lots of people buy goods fairly indiscriminately. I really think she would not have noticed.

I don’t know whether I believe her or not.

But what sways me towards disbelief is the party finances being in such an awful and unauditable mess at the same time as her husband splashing on luxuries.

to be ignorant of one if these issues is plausible. But surely not both?

If she didn’t notice her husband’s spending habits because she was too focused on the SNP and ‘running the country’ how does that tally with running the country, as leader of the SNP but not noticing £400k of the parties money going missing? Despite being repeatedly told again and again by various party members that something was very much up with the party transparency and finances - many of them resigning because of it - she did nothing about it and even warned people to ‘be very careful’ about making the accusations. Yeah, sounds totally innocent…

I dont believe her at all and this is why. Dh earns £100k and I earn just shy of £80k. Even before kids, of course we couldn't just go and buy a motorhome. And i dont no anything about motor homes but its clear that their motor home is a cut above and not the normal pieces of junk you see on the motorway (no offence to anyone with a ten year old basic motor home!!). This is not something that you buy without discussing with a partner. Same as the 2 dyson hairdryers and car etc. And coupled with the number of questions about missing finances, it doesnt add up.

Laura Kuensberg should have been pushing her on why she shut down all concerns from tbe SNP’s own finance committee. They were complaining Peter Murrell wouldn’t give them access to the SNP accounts and she shut them down. There’s a leaked video. If there was nothing to see here why did she sanction the finance committee being denied access?

I didn’t believe her and having seen the interview this morning the fake crying has confirmed that’s she’s lying through her teeth. She’s the victim, the party’s the victim. Not the normal people who had their hard earned money stolen to pay for a hairdryer for a bald man. Pull the other one.

Nope, don’t believe a word of it. Too much stuff (if DP sidled home with a dirty great motorhome costing more that his annual salary, I would want to know exactly where the funds came from), too much obfuscation over the years, and sorry, but ignorance is no defence in this case.

She knew that her/their position/s would open them both to increased scrutiny, but seemed to think that separation of their finances give her plausible deniability. It doesn't, so far as I’m concerned.

I don’t think the answer to the thread title matters very much, does it? Anyone with half a brain knew that the SNP was a squalid little outfit, not to be trusted with anything.

Murrell’s spectacular thieving is just further confirmation of the rottenness of the SNP.

Yes, this is a fair point and it's why I'm not sure. But I don't know the exact structure of the SNP or what level of scrutiny the political leader would usually have over party finances.

I think the strongest evidence against her is that she seems to have resisted attempts at greater internal transparency. It is hard to see why she would have resisted this if she had nothing to hide, and I haven't heard her offer any explanation for that yet - I'm not sure if one has been given?

The leader of her Country is the King of Scots.

Sounds as if the SNP were more like a mafia outfit than a political party.

I agree with this.

Of course she had an idea of what was happening. How can you not notice when a mobile home appears on your drive?!!

At best she had suspicions and was too busy to think about it. At worst she knew exactly what was going on. I think that for the hours they put in and the stress they experience, senior politicians are not that well paid. I can imagine a lot of them think that a bit of crafty redirecting of funds is fair enough.

Exactly. Even if she wasnt aware other folk suspected. They were silenced by her.

Had anyone explained yet what happened to the ring-fenced £600k? Where did that go? Is the £400k that Murrell snaffled part of that £600k?

This is abundantly clear even in the general day to day when no one is ever allowed to have a different opinion

she’s so full of shit. Of course she knew!

He was using the SNP credit card and SNP finances to buy these things though - the political party that she was leader of. She was one of the ones signing off accounts. The auditors refused to do the work. She had to have had some idea what was going on.

there are two separate issues here! I believe that she didn’t know she was being betrayed by her husband. I do not believe she knew nothing was amiss with the finances. She was over ever inch of that party she controlled everything that happened in the party. Her arrogance and manipulation to get everyone to believe she knew nothing about finances when party “3 financiers” resigned saying something was wrong is astonishing. She know something was wrong but was such a control freak she wanted and continues to try and control the narrative is astounding. I am Scottish please don’t be fooled by her (her tears were for herself & rightly so over her husband’s betrayal)

I was wondering why he was buying lots of expensive bottle openers 🤷🏼‍♀️

I believe her she was focused on her role

He is likely to have told many lies over the time they were together deceitful people are rarely deceitful just in one area of their life

though I can’t work out what lie he told about the the salt and pepper shakers but when you are dealing with someone who does often lie they are always one step ahead

Of course she knew. She was SNP leader, he was director of finance AND her husband.
Who signed all this off ? Didn't anyone question it?

Yes I do. I’ve just watched Laura Kunsburgh interview her and felt she was credible. Lots of women who post here find out their husbands were hiding spending - and the spending was over a number of years. If my husband bought a new pepper pot it wouldn’t occur to me to ask how much money it cost. I don’t think she would have risked everything for such banal things, and really felt for her over the necklace gift. The accounts were audited by professionals - I’m surprised they didn’t notice.