SNP treasurer Colin Beattie released without charge

SNP treasurer Colin Beattie who was arrested by police investigating the party’s finances has been released without charge pending further investigation.

The 71-year-old was taken into custody on Tuesday morning and was questioned by Police Scotland detectives.

He returned to his home in Dalkeith in Midlothian just after 20:00.

First Minister Humza Yousaf earlier said Mr Beattie’s arrest was “clearly a very serious matter indeed”.

The arrest came just hours before Mr Yousaf set out his government’s priorities for the next three years.

Police Scotland launched its Operation Branchform investigation into the SNP’s finances in July 2021 after receiving complaints about how donations were used.

Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, was arrested two weeks ago, before also being released without charge pending further investigation.

The SNP raised £666,953 through referendum-related appeals between 2017 and 2020 with a pledge to spend these funds on the independence campaign.

Questions were raised after its accounts showed it had just under £97,000 in the bank at the end of 2019, and total net assets of about £272,000.

Officers involved in the investigation spent two days searching the Glasgow home of Mr Murrell and Ms Sturgeon, and the party’s headquarters in Edinburgh earlier this month.

A luxury motorhome was seized by officers from outside a property in Dunfermline on the same morning that Mr Murrell was arrested.

The Mail on Sunday reported that the vehicle had been parked outside the home of Mr Murrell’s 92-year-old mother since January 2021.

Earlier, the Scottish Conservatives’ deputy leader Meghan Gallacher said the SNP was in “total meltdown”.

Speaking in the Scottish Parliament, she urged the first minister to suspend his predecessor, Nicola Sturgeon, and her husband, former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, from the party. Her calls were rejected by Mr Yousaf.

Mr Beattie is the MSP for the Midlothian North and Musselburgh constituency and is a former international banker.

The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that he had told the party’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) that the SNP was struggling to balance its books due to a drop in member numbers and donors.

Mr Beattie served as the SNP’s treasurer for 16 years before being defeated in an internal election by Douglas Chapman in 2020, but returned to the role when Mr Chapman resigned a year later.

Mr Chapman quit after saying he had “not received the support or financial information” that was needed to carry out his duties as treasurer.