Scotland’s top civil servant faces official inquiry over ‘flagrant abuse of power’

SCOTLAND’S top civil servant is facing the prospect of an official inquiry into claims he was party to a “flagrant abuse of power” in the fake letter row surrounding one of Alex Salmond’s closest advisors.

Labour fear there may have been “deliberate fraud” in the way two damning e-mails, setting out how one SNP-appointed civil servant tried to “nobble” a leading referendum expert, were witheld by the civil service. “This isn’t an episode of Yes Minister,” Labour MSP Hugh Henry said. “Civil servants cannot condone this kind of behaviour, let alone be party to it.”

Special advisor Kevin Pringle “faked” a letter from Professor Matt Qvortrup to the Times newspaper which was read out in parliament by Mr Salmond last October. This recanted the academic’s criticism of SNP plans for a second referendum question on more powers for Holyrood which had appeared in that day’s paper.

But the academic refused to endorse the letter and Mr Salmond was forced to apologise to MSPs in parliament. The full extent of the cover-up emerged this week, when two previously unseen e-mails came to light.

They show Mr Pringle not only drafted the letter for Prof Qvortrup to send to the paper, but also urged the academic to pretend he had acted without intervention from the government advisor – and not to speak out to the press.

Mr Henry is demanding to know why the full set of e-mails were withheld from him in November, when only four of the six pieces of correspondence were published. The remaining two were instead logged in the Scottish Parliament’s information centre four days before Christmas.

“Such a flagrant abuse of power needs to be examined carefully,” Mr Henry said.

The Labour MSP says that the revelations “cast doubt” on an inquiry by Scotland’s top civil servant Peter Housden which cleared the SNP spin doctor of misconduct.