Alex Salmond inquiry 'actively looking' at gaining access to more material from Crown Office

Messages between Peter Murrell and other SNP figures may still be held by the Crown Office, with the Holyrood inquiry looking to gain access to further material.

Former first minister Alex Salmond

It has also emerged the committee has written to former first minister Alex Salmond stating they will not be publishing his evidence on the potential ministerial code breach by Nicola Sturgeon.

Mr Salmond is understood to be consulting his lawyers on whether he will appear in front of the inquiry on Tuesday.

Messages from Peter Murrell may still be held by the Crown Office.

It is understood the harassment complaints committee is considering writing to the Crown Office clarifying the scope of its original section 23 request.

The initial request covered communications between the chief operating officer of the SNP, Sue Ruddick, and other members of the Scottish Government, including special advisers.

However, it is understood the committee believes the Crown Office took the “narrowest interpretation” of the request and has drafted a letter asking if the Crown Office hold any further messages that are relevant to the committee’s remit.

These may include WhatsApp messages from the SNP’s chief executive and husband of Nicola Sturgeon, Mr Murrell.

Sources close to Alex Salmond complained on Tuesday the initial request had been deliberately too narrow to allow the Crown Office to omit the messages from Mr Murrell after the committee agreed the material handed over by the Crown Office was outwith its remit.

The Crown Office told The Scotsman it had complied with the notice issued by the committee.

A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said: “The COPFS has engaged constructively with the committee and provided the material specified in the statutory notice.

“It is vitally important that people feel able to come forward to report matters to the police in the confidence that they will be treated with respect, sensitivity and confidentiality by the police and COPFS.

“In order to protect that public confidence and trust, COPFS processes the information it holds carefully, thoughtfully and lawfully.”

The committee is examining the botched handling of harassment complaints against the former first minister by the Scottish Government, which led to a £500,000 legal bill after the government conceded a judicial review challenge on the grounds of the process being “tainted by apparent bias”.

Mr Salmond was also acquitted of sexual offence charges in a trial last year.

Responding to the news the committee will not publish the former first minister's evidence on the ministerial code breach, a spokeswoman for Mr Salmond said the decision was “farcical”.

She said: “This is a quite extraordinary development. It would be one thing to remove a sentence or so but to suppress the whole submission is simply farcical. It means that it can’t even be considered for inclusion in the Committee’s report.

"In one letter the Convener seems to have wiped out the entire strand of her own Committee’s Inquiry into the Ministerial Code and dispatched the submission into a black hole.

"Alex will consult with his advisers tomorrow afternoon as to where this leaves his evidence and what to do now.

"Obviously everything that Alex has submitted has conformed to all legal requirements and there is no possible justification whatsoever for this decision which makes a mockery of the Parliament’s commitment to openness and transparency”

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