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

Doesn’t that circumvent the party knowing exactly what happened?

Nothing to stop them conducting their own investigation.

If you try to re-read my post that would be helpful.

I didn’t say she didn’t know, or even give my opinion on whether she did or didn’t.

I just pointed out that those who were highlighting the value of the purchase would have been unaffordable for him were wrong.

What he bought was very expensive and extremely visible - a luxury camping van on his mother's drive for 2 years, which isn't where you'd put it if you were keeping it secret from your wife. Extremely expensive flashy sports cars (2 of them) - not exactly company cars, were they? And from what I've read he had presents sent from Amazon not just to his family but also to hers. The women's luxuries he spent money on presumably went to Nicola, although I suppose it's possible he was having an affair and they were for the other woman. Just thinking about the campervan - that cost him around 2 years' net salary. These were not little things your wife wouldn't notice. I find it absolutely impossible to believe that she wasn't fully aware.

Imagine them being in charge of negotiating and bringing about an independent Scotland. I remember a few years ago a Nicola fan boasting about how well-prepared for independence the SNP was at the time of the referendum vote. She boasted that they had a whole (one) folder of paperwork - so the thing was fully planned!

I think a lot will depend if she knew that he bought them, and if so how did he explain the money.

If you take the example of someone gifting Nigel Farage £5million, then it’s not beyond the realms of possibility of people gifting the like of Murrell/Sturgeon a few hundred grand. Or giving a ridiculous discount on a purchase.

If my DH walked in and said “oh you know Dave, he bought us a motorhome” then it would be beyond ridiculous. I doubt the same instant “wtf” would happen in the homes of many politicians given the amount of money and extravagant gifts they are given.

I think the question about those around Murrell is if they knew he was dodgy in theft terms or if they just believed he was dodgy in accepting money from dodgy places/people. Both absolutely dodgy, but not in the same way.

Well, surely the refusal to let the auditors look at the party accounts might have been a clue, as well as the actual stuff? @JustAnotherWhinger

The women's luxuries he spent money on presumably went to Nicola, although I suppose it's possible he was having an affair and they were for the other woman.

If rumours are to be believed….then it’s hard to believe he was boffing his own wife let alone anyone else’s 😂

And their NEC quitting for the same reason?

Which is when it all kicked off…

as I said in an earlier post - what happened before the auditors made that public?

Who at the SNP had oversight of the finances alongside Murrell and if he was refusing to let anyone see them then how long did that go on for? Who stood up and shouted about that before all the infighting kicked off?

I don’t think folks should simply be gunning for NS. I think this whole thing absolutely suggests that for many many many years there was no proper accounting being done and many people went along with it, only standing up to shout about it when they were no longer on the same team and the auditor issue was going public. That doesn’t make them brave whistleblowers imo, that makes them complicit while it suited them.

Did NS know or not is definitely a question, but I think there are others involved in the SnP finances that have even more questions to answer than she does.

I think there’s a large danger that the focus on NS will allow several, or many, people who were involved in this up to their necks to walk away unscathed.

And that would be a disaster for Scotland because NS will never be back in politics - they may still be there with their noses in the trough.

I’d forgotten Swinney was finance secretary

During this time? Oh my! He needs looking into then …

I think we need to be very clear about what he’s admitted to. Murrell has admitted to stealing money from SNP party funds. Not Scottish government money. Swinney was senior in the party yes, but was Scottish government finance minister.

Yes, I think we can acknowledge that, it was the Scottish taxpayers money he was in charge of , however it does make me wonder where all that Cladding money went, but that was not under his watch as Finance Secretary for the country…

I see that it was Estee Lauder makeup he bought. Is that what NS uses? Wouldn't it be strange for your husband to buy your make up?

I’ve just seen it referred to as the Murrell Collection …

😂

Better than spending stolen money on Harry Lauder makeup I suppose.

The other scandal is that this went unchallenged for so long. Nobody checking, auditing, asking why party funds were being used for coffee machines and games consoles.

One of the suggestions is that the games consoles among other things were Christmas presents. I guess the makeup and jewellery could be as well, but that's more the sort of thing a woman might choose. Maybe Nicola just gave him a shopping list and he chose to use the SNP credit card. She must have realised at some point but doing anything about it would mean she'd be out as well.

I did read it thanks. I was pointing out a piece of evidence to you.

Today is the 6th anniversary of my dad’s death. From COVID. In a care home, where we’d not been allowed access to him for the last 12 weeks of his life.

Im glad at least one of these bastards is in the jail now -my dad would be cock a hoop!

Re the comment about Alex Salmons turning in his lair - he may have said when he stepped down as leader to Sturgeon and Murrell privately that them being in their roles at the same time wasn’t wise, but he stayed in the party for 4 more years until the sexual misconduct allegations.

Murrell was in place as chief exec from 2001, he was in place when Salmond decided to run alongside Sturgeon for his return to the leadership, including when she was leader for a short spell as he wasn’t an MSP.

i think it’s highly unlikely Murrell only became dodgy in 2015 when NS took over as first minister.

Maybe he did feel that but I was commenting about him buying the campervan without discussing it. We have a system where we pay for living costs in proportion to our incomes. If we save it's our money and we spend it without having to discuss it although we also have joint savings. Normal for us and maybe normal for them.

🤣🤣🤣