Humza Yousaf: I hope Peter Murrell is given a hefty sentence
The former first minister said Murrell had ‘hideously betrayed the trust of so many people’
Humza Yousaf has said he hopes Peter Murrell is given a “hefty” sentence after he admitting embezzling £400,000 from the SNP.
The ex-first minister said the party’s former chief executive had “hideously betrayed the trust of so many people”.
Murrell, who is Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband, pled guilty to embezzling £400,310.65 from the SNP over a 12-year period.
Police said the 61-year-old abused his privileged position to “bankroll the lavish lifestyle he craved but could not afford”.
He is due to be sentenced next month.
The fallout from the police investigation into the SNP’s finances completely overshadowed Mr Yousaf’s short time in charge of the party.
“First of all, let me say frankly how p***ed off I am at Peter Murrell,” Mr Yousaf told The Courier.
““I hope he ends up with quite a hefty sentence, quite frankly, because he deserves it.”
The former first minister expressed his shock at the scale of Murrell’s spending.
“The motorhome people focus on, I understand that,” he said. “It was the things like £2,000 on a salt and pepper shaker.
“I didn’t even know people made salt and pepper shakers that cost that sort of money.”
Mr Yousaf recalled the extraordinary day news broke of Murrell’s arrest, on April 5, 2023, when Holyrood had not long gone into recess.
“We had all these visits lined up and planned, and announcements lined up,” he said.
“On the first or second day of that recess I get a call early in the morning to let me know that Peter and Nicola’s house has been raided, and SNQ HQ has been raided, and that Peter’s been arrested.
“I have to go through that whole day on autopilot, while of course thinking about how to respond to this.”
He later saw the arrest warrant after Murrell was taken into custody.
“Even then, I was pretty certain Peter had something he clearly shouldn’t have done,” Mr Yousaf said.
“It didn’t look like to me that this could be a simple mistake, or an accounting mistake, by any stretch of the imagination.”
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