MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th June, 2023) Former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been released without charge pending further investigation after being arrested and questioned by police as part of a probe into the finances of the ruling Scottish National Party (SNP), Police Scotland said on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, police said that a 52-year-old woman had been arrested "as a suspect in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National Party." UK media confirmed that the arrested woman was Sturgeon.
"A 52-year-old woman who was arrested earlier today, Sunday, 11 June, 2023, as a suspect in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National Party, has been released without charge pending further investigation," police said in a statement.
Police specified that the woman was arrested at 10:09 a.m. (09:09 GMT), questioned and released from custody at 5:24 p.m.
The ex-first minister posted a statement on Twitter, maintaining that she is "innocent of any wrongdoing."
Sturgeon, who stepped down as first minister and the SNP's leader in April, is the third person to be arrested as part of a probe into allegations that the party mishandled over 600,000 Pounds ($754,000) of Scottish independence campaign funds, UK media report.
In April, Sturgeon's husband and the SNP's former chief executive, Peter Murrell, and then-party treasurer Colin Beattie were arrested as part of the inquiry but later released without charges pending further investigation. The same month, The Times reported that some SNP members believed Sturgeon's arrest as part of the financing probe was "inevitable."
