Police Scotland wanted to put more questions to Nicola Sturgeon after she gave a no comment interview to detectives investigating SNP finances, the Record has learned.
Arrest and No Comment Interview
The former first minister was arrested on June 11, 2023, and questioned by cops for several hours as part of Operation Branchform. She was released without charge on the same day and was later informed in March 2025 that she would face no further action.
It was later revealed that Sturgeon had chosen to use her right to remain silent during the interview by answering "no comment" when questions were put to her by investigating officers.
The former first minister later submitted a "detailed" written statement to the Branchform investigation in 2023. But the Record understands this did not answer all the remaining questions detectives had at the time.
Investigation Timeline
The matter was later dropped after Police Scotland submitted a report of its investigations to the Crown Office on August 9, 2024. It was prosecutors who ultimately took the decision in 2025 Sturgeon would not face any further action.
Police Scotland received a total of 14 complaints in 2021 from members of the public, including activist Sean Clerkin, regarding how the SNP had spent more than £600,000 of donations raised by online fundraisers in 2017 and 2019. The Nationalists had told donors the money would be "ring-fenced" for a future referendum campaign.
Detectives launched Operation Branchform in July 2021. The focus was initially a potential fraud inquiry - but by early spring 2023 attention had focused to a potential embezzlement, with spending by the party's former chief executive Peter Murrell coming under forensic examination.
Searches and Arrests
A decision was made to launch a search in April 2023 of the suburban home shared by Sturgeon and Murrell on the eastern edge of Glasgow, as well as the SNP headquarters in Edinburgh. Police had obtained plans of the house's layout ahead of the search - a normal part of the process - and subsequently removed dozens of domestic items from the property.
Murrell was arrested and interviewed for the first time at Falkirk Police Station on April 5, 2023. He was later released, pending further investigations. Colin Beattie, the SNP's former long serving treasurer, was arrested and questioned on April 18. He was released without charge and was later told he would face no further action.
Timing and Decision Not to Charge
Police took the decision to stagger the arrest and interviews of Murrell, Beattie and Sturgeon in 2023 given how complex the subject was. The timing of the arrests was left to Police Scotland with no input from the Crown Office.
Branchform officers had realised by this time that what had started out as a fraud inquiry had now become one focused on embezzlement - an occurrence that is said to be not unusual when it comes to investigating financial crimes.
A report was submitted by Police Scotland in August 2024 to prosecutors on the Branchform investigation. This did not contain a recommendation on whether Sturgeon or Beattie should be charged, but instead asked for advice and guidance on the way forward for the probe. A standard prosecution report was submitted with relation to Murrell, reflecting the strength of the evidence against him. In cases where there is not clearly sufficient evidence for prosecution, cops will ask the Crown Office for guidance - as happened with Sturgeon and Beattie. Such decisions are taken everyday by senior detectives and prosecutors and are not unusual.
Sturgeon later told reporters there was not a "shred of evidence" against her. But there was a sufficiency for police to arrest on suspicion, meaning she was brought in as a suspect in 2023. Ultimately, prosecutors decided not take any further action.
Police Satisfaction and Sturgeon's Response
The Record understands detectives were not unduly perturbed by Sturgeon's decision to answer "no comment" to questions, as such responses are routinely given at interviews. Investigating officers are also understood to be satisfied with the level of cooperation they received from the SNP during Branchform.
Sturgeon has insisted she cooperated fully with the Branchform investigation. In a statement issued by solicitor Aamer Anwar on behalf of the former first minister last month, he said the answer was standard legal advice. He rejected claims that the move hindered the investigation into SNP finances.
"In relation to the advice tendered to Ms Sturgeon to make no comment, this was by her solicitor, formerly a very senior crown counsel at Crown Office," Anwar said.
He said Sturgeon said a "no comment" response was "standard advice offered on a regular basis in our jurisdiction" and that it was "deeply worrying" that Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay described her "right to silence" as a "tactic of organised crime".
Anwar said Sturgeon later insisted on providing a "detailed written response" to Police Scotland questions. "The idea that a highly resourced inquiry was hampered by a no comment interview is nonsensical," he said. "Had there been any evidence whatsoever of criminality against Ms Sturgeon, there can be no doubt that this gold-plated investigation would have led to Ms Sturgeon being charged and prosecuted."
