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| Police release Nicola Sturgeon without charge | Police release Nicola Sturgeon without charge |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Nicola Sturgeon had been taken into police custody on Sunday morning | |
| Nicola Sturgeon has been released without charge pending further investigations after being arrested by police. | |
| Scotland's former first minister was arrested in connection with the ongoing investigation into the SNP's funding and finances at 10:09 on Sunday. | |
| After being questioned by detectives she was released from custody at 17:24. | After being questioned by detectives she was released from custody at 17:24. |
| Police said a report was to be sent to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. | |
| LIVE: Police questioned Nicola Sturgeon for seven hours | |
| Nicola Sturgeon arrested in SNP finances inquiry | |
| Why was Nicola Sturgeon arrested and what happens next? | |
| Police Scotland has been investigating for the past two years what happened to £660,000 of donations given to the SNP by independence activists for use in a future independence referendum campaign. | |
| Officers had been able to question Ms Sturgeon for a maximum of 12 hours before deciding whether to charge her with a crime or release her while they carry out further inquiries. | |
| A suspect released pending further investigations can be re-arrested at a later date. | |
| A police patrol at the home of Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell on Sunday - it is not known where the police questioning took place | |
| Ms Sturgeon had attended a pre-arranged police interview and was arrested and questioned after she arrived at a police station. | |
| It follows the arrest of her husband, former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, on 5 April by officers who searched the couple's home in Glasgow as part of their Operation Branchform probe. | |
| The SNP's headquarters in Edinburgh were searched on the same day and a luxury motorhome valued at about £110,000 was also seized by police from outside the home of Mr Murrell's mother in Dunfermline. | |
| Almost two weeks later, the party's treasurer Colin Beattie was arrested. | |
| Both men were released pending further investigations, with Mr Beattie resigning as treasurer a short time later. | |
| Police Scotland officers carried out a search of the SNP's headquarters in Edinburgh in April | |
| The arrest of the former first minister had been widely expected as she was one of the three signatories on the SNP's accounts alongside Mr Murrell and Mr Beattie - although there was no indication of when it was going to happen. | |
| The Branchform investigation began after complaints were made about what happened to £666,954 that was donated to the SNP by activists for a future independence referendum campaign. | |
| The party's accounts later accounts showed it had just under £97,000 in the bank at the end of 2019, and total net assets of about £272,000. | |
| Last year it emerged Mr Murrell gave a loan of more than £100,000 to the SNP to help it out with a "cash flow" issue after the last election. | |
| The SNP had repaid about half of the loan by October of that year, but still owes money to Mr Murrell - although it has not said how much. | |
| Related Topics | Related Topics |
| Nicola Sturgeon | Nicola Sturgeon |
| Police Scotland | Police Scotland |
| SNP (Scottish National Party) | SNP (Scottish National Party) |