Alex Cole-Hamilton, Scottish Lib Dems, asks Sturgeon when she first became aware that a civil servant had come forward with a complaint about Salmond?
The first minister said she had an awareness that there might be concerns but it wasn’t until 2 April when she saw the permanent secretary’s letter that they became concrete. She says ahead of 2 April she had awareness that there might be a complaint, “a general awareness”, but it was reading the letter that gave her the “knowledge” as opposed to the general awareness. After the 29 March meeting with Geoff Aberdein, Salmond’s former chief of staff, she had “a sense of unease”. She did not have knowledge of specific complaints but “a lingering suspicion” that there might be something.
Can you see why people might feel misled by her version of events? Cole-Hamilton says this has changed as more information became public, referring to interviews with Andrew Marr on the BBC and Sophy Ridge on Sky.
Sturgeon says early on she was worried that there was an ongoing investigation and she did not want to generate headlines. She says she does understand why “people might see that”
Cole-Hamilton says breaching confidentiality is a sackable offence so are you surprised the senior government official denies telling Geoff Aberdein the name of one of the complainants?
Sturgeon says there is not much more she can say about the issue but claims Alex Salmond told her the name of one complainant and indicated he knew the identity of the other.
You haven’t tried to contact Geoff Aberdein?
Sturgeon says she is respecting the procedures of the committee, which include not contacting fellow witnesses.
Cole-Hamilton says he finds it curious that the day before the Daily Record story appeared the government had prepared a press release with details of the investigation.
Sturgeon answers that it was not her press release. She said she believes the press release was planned because there was a freedom of information request that would have led to the disclosure of some of that information.
Cole-Hamilton says the report was passed to the crown agent against the wishes of the police, was this the right thing to do?
Sturgeon says there were allegations of criminality involved. The Scottish government has a duty to, if it thinks criminal acts have been committed, to do something about that. She says she does not know how strong the objections were from the complainers. She adds that had she done the opposite, she would also have been criticised.
