Peter Murrell embezzlement trial

[Sunnnyday]

Peter Murrell is in court in Edinburgh today. This is for the preliminary hearing which was postponed from before the election. It will be interesting to see how the criminal proceedings proceed.

www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/peter-murrell-arrives-at-court-ahead-of-hearing-on-embezzlement-charges/ar-AA23Ybuy?ocid=msedgntp&pc

Yes but for a large purchase like that, I'd expect most couples would have at least one conversation about it, including how it would be paid for. I suppose he could just have said it was on finance or just come home with it one day without a word but in most relationships I'd think that would be unusual.

You can't just ignore what your spouse does if you're the elected leader of a country! Rightly or wrongly, it reflects on the spouse. She chose to marry him and stay married to him (until the shit hit the fan, of course). He now turns out to be a criminal. (I think we can say that if he's indicated he's pleading guilty when it goes to trial.) What does that say about her judgement of character?

As for what it says about the SNP - years ago when I found that the elected leader of the party was married to its top paid official I nearly fell off the sofa. How can that be considered acceptable?

100%, it's such poor governance. And ultimately the SNP shouldn't be able to get away with just blaming Murrell. They should have had appropriate systems and processes in place such that this couldn't happen. What was the explanation for the missing funds? Was no one asking questions? Who were their auditors? It's pretty embarrassing for them too.

Edited for spelling.

There are two sides to this. Yes they were married on paper at least but the exact nature of that relationship has been discussed at length.

But leaving aside their marriage, he was Chief Executive of the SNP and she was first minister. Clear conflict of interest with them signing cheques for each other or lack of transparency.

Let’s not forget this was not a one off campervan purchase - even though that would have been bad enough.

We’re talking cars, jewellery etc

you really think these items regularly appeared in the home over a 12 year period and Nicola Sturgeon was
a) too stupid to notice
b) too busy running the country into the ground to notice
c) turned a blind eye and enjoyed the lifestyle

The party's auditors resigned, didn't they? I seem to remember that the SNP had to dash around trying to find a firm that was prepared to replace them.

Wonder if Peter has been guaranteed a nice settlement in the divorce for taking the hit and keeping her out of it.

Decades ago I was an auditor. I came to the conclusion that it was expensive window dressing and an utter waste of time and money for the most part. How often do auditors actually uncover anything illegal and go to the police? How often do the accountancy institutes use their regulatory powers to end careers over obvious incompetence, verging on dishonesty?

And he wasn't just her spouse. He was chief executive of the party she led.

So even if you don't like each other and are heading for divorce, it doesn't excuse the professional requirements.

It stinks but will all be brushed away.

That's right, resigned because they weren’t allowed to see the books

The campervan cost over £100K, and it was parked unused on his very elderly mother's driveway for a couple of years. Did Nicola not visit her mother-in-law over the whole of that period and ask a few questions? If I remember the list correctly, there were also a couple of extremely expensive sports cars and presents sent from Amazon to people in both Murrell's family and Nicola's family. And very expensive purchases of makeup and jewellery which I'd assume were for Nicola herself. How can Nicola possibly not have been aware of what was going on? Murrell wasn't actually particularly well-paid - there's no way he could have afforded that kind of lifestyle out of his salary.

Of course she knew!

As he's pled guilty and been remanded in custody we shall now see what sentence is imposed. Just gobsmacked by it all.

Wouldn’t this make you think something might be going on? It beggars belief!

@Helpmaboa @Sunnnyday Yes, it's all coming back now, I remember them scrabbling around trying to get someone willing to do their audit. How can these same people be deemed fit to run a country? It's genuinely ridiculous.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g I tend to agree about the value of audit. I'd hope it has a bit of a prevention factor in that really obvious shit would be picked up though. But the idea that everything must be squeaky clean following a successful audit is just bollocks. I think you probably have to see it as just one tool but people tend to give it far greater weight.

My husband went to the garage for a small part and came back with an expensive new car. Was I expected to do a forensic examination of his saving account?

You might be a bit surprised and questioning if your husband bought a campervan which cost well over £100K out of his £80K a year gross salary! And two sports cars costing several £10Ks each. And with all the expensive presents too. It's as though Murrell felt that the money in the SNP party bank account was burning a hole in his pocket.

Yes, as the whole country knew their finances were dodgy, how could it possibly the case that Sturgeon and Swinney and the rest had no idea??

This so grubby. Dear God man, if you’re going to admit to embezzling, at least run off with a few million and post a picture of yourself from a Brazilian beach.

Sadly they didn't have millions for him to run off with though.

Not one bit surprised in this household. Sadly lots of people lapped them up and voted for them.

Sure. But then keep your fingers out of the till. I’ve no idea what the sentence might be - though you’d have to think he’ll be locked up - and I don’t know what the full extent of the ill-gotten gains were, but they cannot have been worth the public disgrace, humiliation and conviction.

Definitely some kind of mick ack…a few years in the jail, which he’ll get discounted because he’s pled guilty, and a nice big payback when he’s out.
They’re all as bent as 15 bob notes.

And here’s her lies…”profound personal trauma”y arse!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cddp5gm0155t

Aye, right

The SNP finance committee including Joanna Cherry also resigned because they weren’t allowed to see the books!!! Imagine thinking that was in any way an acceptable way to run a party!