Salmond unable to 'tell whole truth' amid tumultuous Scottish enquiry
Video report by ITV News Correspondent Geraint Vincent
Alex Salmond has said he will not appear before the Scottish parliamentary committee investigating the botched handling of harassment allegations saying current rules would mean he would be unable tell the "whole truth."
Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon and her husband – the SNP chief executive Peter Murrell – have both faced questions about their role in the saga.
Mr Salmond, the former first minister, was awarded more than £500,000 when the Scottish Government conceded in a judicial review at the Court of Session its investigation into complaints made against him were unlawful.
He had been asked to appear before the committee inquiry into the Scottish Government’s handling of the allegations against him on Tuesday, but his lawyers revealed he will not attend over concerns about the committee not publishing his evidence.
Mr Salmond’s submission has been published elsewhere online and accuses Ms Sturgeon of breaching the ministerial code with “false and manifestly untrue” statements to parliament, which she denies.
David McKie, of Levy & McRae, said that Mr Salmond “cannot take his oath to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth” until a number of concerns were addressed, including the publication of the evidence by the committee and concerns about him being “in legal jeopardy”.
Mr Salmond's team said he was still willing to give evidence but the committee indicated there would not be any time for another session.
A Scottish Parliament spokeswoman said: “The committee has already published two lengthy submissions from Mr Salmond and many, many pages of records and documents from him that he has been invited to speak freely about in Parliament on Tuesday.”
During a virtual evidence session of the committee on Monday morning, Mr Murrell denied lying under oath at an earlier appearance at the same inquiry about a meeting between Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon.
Mr Murrell was recalled to give further evidence to the committee after making contradictory statements during his first appearance.
He initially said he was not at home when the former first minister told Ms Sturgeon about claims he sexually harassed women, later he revealed he came home while the meeting was taking place on April 2 2018.
During Monday morning’s session, Mr Murrell was asked repeatedly if he had made false statements to the committee under oath, which carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.
Challenged to give a yes or no answer about whether he gave a false account, Mr Murrell instead stressed he was not at the meeting and told MSPs he did not see Mr Salmond when he arrived at his Glasgow home.
Scottish Conservative committee member Murdo Fraser said Mr Murrell’s appearance “can only strengthen” a prosecution case for possible perjury, while an SNP spokesman said the party’s chief executive “answered questions honestly while maintaining anonymity of the women”.