Salmond complaint committee seeks clarification on court payments

MSPs investigating how the Scottish Government handled misconduct allegations against Alex Salmond are seeking further clarification about court payments.

Holyrood’s Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints agreed to write again to Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans, having previously written to her about expenses payments from a civil case brought by the former first minister.

Last month the Scottish Government confirmed it paid £512,250 in legal costs to the former SNP leader, after the Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled the Government’s handling of complaints made against him – which he denied – was “unlawful”.

The committee discussed the Scottish Government response in a meeting at the Scottish Parliament on Thursday and decided to write seeking clarification.

Speaking at the end of the committee meeting, convener Linda Fabiani said: “The committee discussed the contents of the letter that has come from the Scottish Government.

“The committee has agreed to write back to the Scottish Government thanking them for the response to the committee’s letter, seeking clarification on some of the points and stressing that the committee expects to be alerted to any further matters which are likely to end up in the public domain.”

The committee’s latest letter to Ms Evans will be sent and published early next week.