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

I think boredom and / or stress likely comes into it given 2020 was his highest spending year but since that was also the year of the motorhome it's difficult to judge as that somewhat skews things!

Being bored is buying crap of Shien, and regretting it is very different from calculating how to buy thousands of £s crap and not be caught, has bugger all.to do with boredom and "stress"

@Lomonald I'm not letting him off the hook by any means, I'm just speculating as to what was behind the behaviour. It is so extremely abnormal and irrational that it is intriguing to me. Given the motorhome was never driven anywhere and would obviously depreciate in value significantly, I don't think, by that point at least, that he was doing it solely for financial gain. I think boredom, stress, difficulty coping with his wife being more successful than him, are all good candidates for relevant factors. Potentially addiction issues? None of that would make what he did ok but might help explain it.

That pattern of buying slightly different versions of the same thing says mh issues. As cons go, it’s surprisingly flat footed when you look at it, it’s amazing it wasn’t found sooner. Almost like he either wanted to get found out or didn’t really care if he did.

He told them that when he was leaving.

He was very happy for them to be party leader and ceo when it was to help him get back into leadership and be future First Minister.

It’s giving wee man inadequacy complex, wife having all the status etc etc and wanting to make himself look like the big I am.

However, it’s crucial to note the terrible governance of the SNP for running the party worse than a jumble sale and allowing a husband of the leader in this position. They cannot be left off the hook for this. Let’s not forget before the police investigation into embezzlement there was the ‘ring fenced’ 600k which evaporated and was absolutely not used for the purposes people were asked to contribute for. “Woven through the accounts” not spent on another (pointless) referendum but on 2017 election campaigning.

I’m no SNP fan but I seem angrier than the actual ones who were fleeced, make it make sense!

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/dorothy-bain-peter-murrell-unwittingly-37239012

Swinney has this morning openly admitted that the SNP pissed away the “Ring-fenced Indy ref fighting fund” on other SNP expenses. Surely he cannot survive this after wholeheartedly denying this was the case earlier?

@Zebrah they are clutching at every straw going. I even saw a press release the other day claiming donations were flooding in since ‘lone wolf’ Peter got found guilty.

that they actually think they can spin any old line and expect Scots to buy it says an awful lot about what they think about the electorate….

I’m no SNP fan but I seem angrier than the actual ones who were fleeced, make it make sense!

It’s a cult

It’ll be some sort of dodgy miracle if he survives.

He was party leader when Murrell, his old pal, was appointed CEO.
He was Cabinet secretary for finance from 2007-2014 - so in the midst of Murrell’s thieving.
He was then Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for finance until 2016.
Remained Deputy First minister until 2023. Had 15 months out until he ran unopposed to be First Minister.

He's been in senior positions, including finance ones, for all of the timeline that Murrell has pled guilty to. plenty of clout to do something about any dishonesty, but did nothing. Still has Colin Beattie in place as treasurer atm.

He was cabinet minister for Govt money, the clue is in the title. Not for SNP money.

The point is he’s been in senior roles for the entire duration of Murrell’s time, in closing appointing him.

*including

It doesn't matter. His posts were govt posts, not paid posts within the party.

Colin Beattie is the most baffling for me.

How is the treasurer through all of this still in place?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65359303

He was leader or deputy leader for the majority of Murrell’s time.

He was involved in decisions at the highest level of the party.

He had seniority and clout and is one of the people who should have noticed what was going on. He’ll have been involved in decisions about planning and strategy. He’s one of the people who should have been asking questions, and one of the people who should have been involved in setting up processes to ensure this couldn’t happen.

That he still thinks he’s the person who should be leading, with Colin Beattie along with him, is a joke.

Colin isn't treasurer. John is leader of the party in govt. Not the CEO.

He isn't even on the NEC.

Many of us left the SNP precisely because we were angry at what we were seeing (or not seeing, it turns out).

"Membership has fallen to 56,011 as of 1 June 2025, down from 64,525 the same time last year and less than half of its peak of around 125,000 in 2019."

https://news.sky.com/story/snp-membership-falls-deficit-soars-and-100-000-campervan-now-only-worth-41-000-accounts-reveal-13415729

Raising money stating that it is for one purpose and spending it on another is fraud. The SNP has committed fraud. This isn’t Peter Murrell acting alone. This is widespread fraud within the party, the discovery of this was closed down by many people, including Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney. It’s hard to say quite how many of the current SNP MSPs need to be swept aside to remove the stench of corruption from the SNP. I don’t really think it’s salvageable anymore.

And the Court of Session has now found the Scottish government in contempt of court. Corrupt, corrupt, corrupt. It’s like living in a failed African state.

I think the problem with comprehension on this thread is that most of the people posting aren't members of any political party, so they mix up "tax payers" money with "party members" money.

They also appear to be confused about "Government" roles as opposed to "Party" roles.

Two different things in both instances.

Also the the stuff about three people resigning from the finance committee? There is a very long back story to this.

99% of members were glad to see the back of them and the 1% went with them - to the very "successful" Alba Party.

I can understand the interest around this. What I don't understand is the outrage from people who have never donated, never fund raised, never been a member and paid their monthly fee, never used their free time to canvas and would never vote for them anyway!

The money that was stolen isn't tax payers money, it's SNP members' money.

And most members have donated money over this period and we're the ones that should be aggrieved.

I don't get what you're all outraged about when it wasn't your money that was stolen.