Nicola Sturgeon urged to publish statement she provided to police after arrest

The former first minister previously revealed she had sent detectives and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) a written document in 2023 “answering the questions that had been put to me”.

Last month, she indicated she would be happy to publish this, but has yet to do so.

Opposition politicians have now urged her to “do the right thing” and release the statement “to provide the public with full transparency around this murky affair”.

READ MORE: Questions mount for Sturgeon and SNP as Murrell jailed for five years

Murrell, the former chief executive of the SNP, was jailed for more than five years on Tuesday for embezzling over £400,000 from the party.

It previously emerged the team behind Operation Branchform - the name given to the police probe into the SNP’s finances - had further questions for Ms Sturgeon even after she was interviewed by police under caution and had submitted her written statement.

The former first minister was arrested in June 2023 as part of the high-profile investigation and provided ‘no comment’ answers during her interview under caution at Falkirk police station, which her solicitor, Aamer Anwar, subsequently described as standard practice.

Ms Sturgeon then provided both Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPPFS) with what she said was a “very detailed written document answering the questions that had been put to me”.

But The Scotsman understands that although this statement answered some of the questions investigators had, there were further questions police would have liked to have asked Ms Sturgeon.

However, officers did not pursue additional questioning following direction from the COPFS.

Ms Sturgeon was released without charge on the same day as her police interview, and was later informed in March 2025 that she would face no further action.

Speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg last month, Ms Sturgeon said she was in a state of “almost complete collapse” and “high stress and anxiety” when she was arrested.

“I instructed a lawyer, a very experienced lawyer, who told me that he was going to advise me to do the same as he advises every client in that situation, to not answer the questions then in such a state of stress, and if I wanted to do that afterwards, I could do that in the way I did,” she said.

Ms Sturgeon added: “In the aftermath of that interview, I prepared a very detailed, written document answering the questions that had been put to me. That was sent by my lawyer to both the Crown Office and the police in the summer of 2023.

“I heard nothing more. They didn’t come back to me asking more questions, they didn’t ask for clarification. The next thing I heard from the police was that I had been cleared and no action was being taken against me.

“So the idea that I did not fully cooperate with the police is not true.”

Asked if she would publish the written statement, she said: “I’d take legal advice on that, because it was a document that was passed to the Crown Office and to the police, but I can’t think of anything in it that I wouldn’t want [published].”

It is understood that neither police nor prosecutors would have any issue with Ms Sturgeon publishing the statement.

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: “Nicola Sturgeon was telling porkies when she claimed she had fully cooperated with police.

“Reports that the written statement she gave to police – in lieu of her ‘no comment’ interview – failed to address all the questions put to her are true to form but unacceptable.

“There is nothing stopping Sturgeon publishing that statement, so she should do so immediately. If she fails to do so, she has no right complaining about the suspicion and innuendo surrounding her – because she will be fuelling it.”

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: "There is no legal bar for Nicola Sturgeon publishing her written statement.

"Despite her having promised to co-operate fully, she appears to have sat in silence for hours during her interview with police, providing no comment.

"Officers then asked her for a witness statement, yet she refused.

"This is clearly not full co-operation. So, now that Peter Murrell has been sentenced, Nicola Sturgeon faces a decision.

"She can choose to continue to hide behind multiple statements from her lawyer, or she can do the right thing, make good on her earlier promise, and publish her statement to provide the public with full transparency around this murky affair."

The Scotsman asked Mr Anwar if the former first minister would publish the statement, but has yet to receive a response.