Scottish government misses Alex Salmond legal advice deadline
- Published
The Scottish government paid Mr Salmond more than £500,000 after admitting it had acted unlawfully while investigating complaints against him
The Scottish government has missed a deadline to hand over legal advice it received ahead of a judicial review of its botched handling of complaints against Alex Salmond.
The Holyrood committee investigating the affair had given it until Friday to disclose the advice.
But Deputy First Minister John Swinney said he was not doing so at this time.
He said he could give no timetable for when the legal advice might be released.
MSPs voted by 63 to 54 last week to demand the Scottish government hand over all of the legal advice it had received to the committee.
Opposition parties said its failure to respect the will of the Scottish Parliament by failing to doing so was a "democratic outrage".
The row centres on legal advice that was given to the Scottish government after Mr Salmond, the former first minister and SNP leader, launched judicial review proceedings at the Court of Session over the way harassment complaints against him had been handled.
The government ended up admitting it had acted unlawfully because one of its investigating officers had prior contact with two complainers.
It had to pay Mr Salmond more than £500,000 in legal expenses as a result, with a Holyrood committee headed by SNP MSP Linda Fabiani being set up to examine what had gone wrong.
In a letter to Ms Fabiani on Friday, Mr Swinney said legal professional privilege (LLP) would have to be waived if the legal advice was to be made public.
Linda Fabiani said on Thursday that the treatment of her committee was "deeply disrespectful"
He said this would require the consent of law officers, which would only be given if there were "compelling reasons".
Mr Swinney said he was unable to give a specific timetable for "when an outcome will be confirmed".
He added: "I should emphasise that, even if a decision was taken to waive LPP on the legal advice relating to the judicial review, further work would be required to implement that waiver."
The letter was met with a furious response by opposition MSPs who sit on the committee.
Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser claimed the Scottish government had spent the past 18 months deliberately blocking the committee's work.
Mr Fraser said: "The SNP are taking something that was already a scandal - losing £500,000 of taxpayers' money - and they're now throwing our entire parliamentary system into disrepute.
"They are defying the will of the Scottish Parliament and ignoring a cross-party committee of MSPs headed by an SNP convener."
Mr Salmond has called for a separate inquiry into whether Nicola Sturgeon breached the ministerial code to be widened
Jackie Baillie, a Labour MSP, accused Mr Swinney of showing "utter contempt for the committee and the wishes of the Scottish Parliament".
She added: "This is no longer mere obstruction. This is a democratic outrage. The committee is due to hear evidence from the Lord Advocate and the Permanent Secretary on Tuesday and will do so with one hand tied behind its back.
"The lengths to which the Scottish government is willing to go to hide essential information from the committee and protect its reputation are clear.
"The committee must show the same determination in uncovering the truth behind this sordid episode."
'Problematic and disrespectful'
Committee members, including Ms Fabiani, have regularly claimed that their investigation is being hampered by a lack of co-operation by some of the key players in the affair.
On Thursday, Ms Fabiani hit out at what she described as "delay, prevarication and obfuscation" by both the Scottish government and Mr Salmond, which she said was "both deeply problematic and deeply disrespectful".
Mr Salmond is yet to make a written submission, and Ms Fabiani said what had been put forward by the government "lacks detail and indeed usefulness".
Ministers have insisted they are cooperating fully with the inquiry, while Mr Salmond's lawyers have said he needs permission from the courts to submit certain information.
Mr Salmond has been involved in an escalating row with his successor Nicola Sturgeon, having called for a separate probe into whether or not she breached the ministerial code to be expanded.
Ms Sturgeon has insisted that she acted "appropriately and in good faith" throughout the investigation and has "nothing to hide" - and has said Mr Salmond may be angry with her for refusing to "collude" with him over the internal complaints.