STURGEON WAS TOLD ABOUT SALMOND CONCERNS
Alarm raised months before official probe
NICOLA Sturgeon was alerted to ‘con- cerns’ raised about Alex Salmond’s behaviour months before he faced an official investigation into harassment allegations, it has emerged.
Scotland’s top civil servant Leslie Evans yesterday told an inquiry she personally warned the First Minister of an alleged ‘incident’ at Edinburgh Airport involving Miss Sturgeon’s predecessor in November 2017.
The Permanent Secretary said Mr Salmond had contacted Scottish Government staff about it after he was made
‘Bewildered and unhappy’
aware that Sky News was investigating concerns raised about his behaviour by airport personnel. Mr Salmond has denied the Edinburgh Airport allegations.
Mrs Evans said one civil servant was left ‘extremely concerned’ by the contact from the ex-SNP leader over the involvement of the media, and added that she ‘did mention’ to the First Minister that Mr Salmond ‘had been in touch with staff’.
The Permanent Secretary claimed it was the first time she had been made aware of the ‘likelihood of concerns or complaints’ about him.
It was not until months later, in January 2018, that an official investigation was launched into the ex-First Minister over separate complaints made by civil servants.
Miss Sturgeon, who is also expected to appear before the committee, has maintained she was not aware of the formal investigation until Mr Salmond told her himself in April 2018.
Mrs Evans also disclosed that the Scottish Government referred three complaints about Mr Salmond to police in late 2018, one more than was previously made public.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The Permanent Secretary was referring to three separate matters raised in the two complaints we received which were drawn to the attention of Police Scotland.’
Mrs Evans gave evidence yesterday to the Holyrood committee on the Scottish Government’s handling of harassment complaints against Mr Salmond.
She denied that a policy introduced in 2017 allowing complaints about former ministers to be investigated was developed to ‘get Alex Salmond’.
The procedures had, she said, been widened to include ex-ministers following the #MeToo scandal and allegations of misconduct at Holyrood and Westminster.
Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton said it was a ‘matter of public record’ that one woman had raised a concern about Mr Salmond on November 7, 2017.
He asked whether Mrs Evans had made the First Minister or anyone else involved in developing the complaints policy aware of this.
Mrs Evans said a ‘concern was raised by a whole range of people in November 2017’. But she said that ‘very early in November’ she was ‘made aware of contact that had taken place between Mr Salmond and certain Scottish Government members of staff ’.
She added: ‘He had contacted them because he wanted to talk to them about a piece of media work which was going on, which was being undertaken by Sky News.
‘I was told by two different sources, one of them extremely concerned, that they had received this contact and they were a bit bewildered and unhappy about it.
‘I didn’t know what was said, I didn’t ask, I didn’t feel it was appropriate to know.’ She said she informed Miss Sturgeon of the alleged airport incident. She added: ‘I told her about that, I said I was concerned mostly because the staff were anxious about it.
‘I was also concerned it could become a story, I didn’t know and I was concerned that we would be ready whatever form that story might blow. At the same time I was told that there were other people coming forward with concerns, not complaints.’
Labour MSP Jackie Baillie asked Mrs Evans when she was ‘made aware of the likelihood of concerns or complaints made against the former First Minister’. She replied: ‘I was first aware of the issue being raised through a different route which was Mr Salmond getting in touch with our staff about Edinburgh Airport.’
Miss Baillie later said that Mrs Evans had ‘left many questions unanswered’.
The Holyrood inquiry was launched to investigate the Scottish Government’s bungled handling of complaints made against the former SNP leader.
Mr Salmond launched a judicial review into the probe in 2018 which ruled the investigation had been tainted with apparent bias. He was later cleared of 13 sexual assault allegations, which he denied, after a criminal case in March.
MSPs are also examining if Miss Sturgeon broke the ministerial code by contacting Mr Salmond while he was being investigated by officials.
The inquiry will also look into the development of a complaints process in 2017, which was used against Mr Salmond months after it was signed off by the SNP leader in December that year. Mr Cole-Hamilton asked Mrs Evans if this was a ‘targeted policy’ and whether it was ‘designed to get Alex Salmond’. Mrs Evans replied: ‘No, absolutely not.’
Two women had initially raised ‘concerns’ with the Government over Mr Salmond in November 2017. These were escalated to formal complaints in 2018.
It later emerged a draft of the new complaints procedure had been shown to one of the women.
Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said the fact Mrs Evans had told Nicola Sturgeon about Mr Salmond’s contact ‘in case it became a story’ was a ‘stunning revelation’.
He said: ‘That tells you all you need to know about a government that is rotten at its core.’
He said Miss Sturgeon ‘must tell us exactly when she found out about his alleged behaviour. No more spin and secrecy.’
A spokesman for Miss Sturgeon said the First Minister is looking forward to giving evidence, adding: ‘The Tories are deliberately conflating different issues.’
Meanwhile, the BBC has been criticised by allies of Mr Salmond over a documentary screened on Monday about his criminal trial, which Nationalist MP Douglas Chapman branded ‘retrial TV’.
The BBC was unable to say if it had received any complaints.
Comment – Page 16
‘Many questions unanswered’