Alert readers may note that while Wings has repeatedly noted that the misappropriation of the fundraiser money by the SNP could constitute either fraud OR embezzlement (or both), entirely separate to the embezzlement FROM the SNP by Peter Murrell, the Crown Office continues – as its agent John Logue did in a recent BBC interview – to address only the possibility of fraud, which would be by far the more difficult of the two to prove, and to ignore the elephant in the room, which is that no less a personage than the First Minister has already admitted to spending all of the money on a purpose other than that which it was raised for.
The response is therefore plainly unsatisfactory, which we will deal with in our own reply within the next 24 hours, which will again be drafted by counsel. We will of course publish it here once it’s sent, so stay tuned.
For any of you who haven’t caught it yet, my interview from Monday’s BBC Scotcast (which is also available on Spotify).
Sadly due to a summer scheduling quirk the video version won’t go out on the telly, and seemingly not on the BBC YouTube page either, so you’ll just have to listen to the audio and somehow live without seeing my gorgeous face.
I’ve just recorded an episode of the BBC ScotCast podcast, which should “drop”, as we say in the media biz, around teatime tonight. It focused largely on issues around Operation Branchform, and the fact that only one of the two crimes it concerned has been resolved.
Time always flies when you’re having fun, so I ended up not being able to fit in half the stuff I wanted to say in the 40 minutes I chatted with Martin Geissler (which will likely shrink to fit into the 30-minute broadcast slot by the time they’ve edited all the most libellous bits out).
And one of those things was the bewildering fact that the investigation into the SNP’s finances went on for two years before the police stumbled into the second crime, and the only one that’s actually concluded – Peter Murrell’s embezzlement from the SNP. Because the first crime ought to have been all but done and dusted in 24 hours max.
Alert readers will have found it hard not to notice that Wings is currently focused on trying to solve one mystery above all others: why nobody has been prosecuted for a massive theft of hundreds of thousands of pounds, which took place in open sight, beyond any dispute, and is openly admitted by someone who was there at the time.
Until this week, nobody in the two organisations responsible for criminal prosecutions in the country – Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (the Crown Office or COPFS for short) had issued any sort of explanation of why the original Operation Branchform investigation apparently fell by the wayside when it led police to discover a second crime: that of embezzlement against the SNP by its then-Chief Executive, Peter Murrell.
But this week, with very little fanfare, the BBC quietly put out two extended interviews with senior representatives of those organisations, seemingly the unused footage from their half-hour televised documentary “Peter Murrell: The Man With The Money”.
This is the letter the SNP sent donors to the ringfenced 2017 fundraiser.
The terms are right there in the first sentence, and repeated several more times. The money will be “ring fenced for a future referendum”. It’s to “build up a sizeable war chest to fight the campaign when the time comes”. It’s to “ensure we are not outspent in the referendum campaign”.
There is no ambiguity in the email. There’s no mention of the SNP anywhere except in Jim Henderson’s email address. No suggestion whatsoever that the money could be used by the SNP for anything but a referendum campaign.
These are the people whose job it was to stop the leadership of the SNP from stealing almost £700,000 of “ringfenced” fundraiser money from independence supporters, and who utterly failed at that job.
It was also their job to stop Peter Murrell stealing the best part of £500,000 from the SNP, in a separate but related crime, and they failed at that one too.
A small handful of them (marked with red asterisks, but see postscript below) tried their best to do their duties, and were blocked primarily by one powerful woman – Nicola Sturgeon – and a room full of cowards, weaklings and bullies, listed above.
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “By linking aspects of Scotland’s political and economic situation to institutionalised slavery, demonstrating the cretinous ignorance and self pitying grievance…” Sep 20, 09:18
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “You’ve thrown down the gauntlet for FC to pick up, if he dares. Can we now look forwards to double…” Sep 20, 09:01
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Why are you so keen to get an answer that doesn’t make sense? When you go to the shop, do…” Sep 20, 08:54
James Che on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Factchecker never checks all facts but simply avoids those he cannot cope with when they do not fit his narrative,…” Sep 20, 08:49
James Che on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Well done Willie, We do not have politicians nowadays that carry out their employment with due diligence, simple actors maybe,…” Sep 20, 08:31
DaveL on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Oh and by the way Hatey, you didn’t answer my earlier question with anything substantial; I’ll ask again. Are the…” Sep 19, 23:55
DaveL on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “With an apology like that I would expect a weeks worth of self flagellation to be in order as well.…” Sep 19, 23:06
sarah on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “@ Willie: thanks for raising this matter. It is yet another example of the failure by so many people who…” Sep 19, 21:29
Oneliner on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Described as ‘House Jocks’ on Through A Scottish Prism There are many other examples of the subculture” Sep 19, 21:25
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Apology accepted. It was a forced error in the heat of the moment, no more than that. And Alf’s hypocrisy…” Sep 19, 20:40
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “@Spartan My view is that anybody who is willing to sacrifice Ukr, or Isr for that matter, in exchange for…” Sep 19, 20:34
factchecker on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Time for an apology. At at 4.22pm I posted in reply to our learned professor’s delight at Scottish independence being…” Sep 19, 20:06
Spartan 117 on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “@Hatey – The West collectively is doing its best to actively fan the flames of conflict. The nations involved are…” Sep 19, 19:59
Factchecker on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Ah, now I understand. Being born and bred in Scotland, going to a Scottish comprehensive school and a Scottish university…” Sep 19, 19:58
Spartan 117 on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “@Factchecker – To be fair to Alf he was merely quoting 2nd hand, however his selection of sources/quotes does raise…” Sep 19, 19:54
Spartan 117 on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “What a lot of keech being spraffed here. Two PMs since 1997 were Scottish, serving a total of 13 years;…” Sep 19, 19:48
Aidan on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Fuck me Alf – so we’ve got Vl@d, perhaps we can look to get; – Bhaal – Bughuul – the…” Sep 19, 19:48
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: ““WM decisions are made by its MPs, not the PM” Jeezo Xaracen. How many suns do you see in the…” Sep 19, 19:13
Willie on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “To change the dial a touch this Saturday evening I was just catching up on the questions being asked in…” Sep 19, 19:12
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Aw, Dave, it breks ma hert ye’ve nae ither cant tae play wi.” Sep 19, 19:06
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “No shit, Sherlock, erm, Alf. Who’s this Ambassador Murray boy? I don’t waste my time on X.” Sep 19, 18:57
DaveL on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “The self proclaimed factchecker speaks! Who takes any notice of you? You claim at 4.22pm that ‘thousands’ of innocent civilians…” Sep 19, 18:54
TURABDIN on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “@FACTCHECKER, depends on how one might define «Scottish». Pedestrian anglo-unionist clones or a Scot with a functioning individuality. Blair &…” Sep 19, 18:54
Xaracen on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: ““In that time we have been hugely over-represented as leaders of the UK. Hardly a ‘subaltern people’.” WM decisions are…” Sep 19, 18:45
DaveL on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “…but we keep being told by the MSM and you (wee Adolf AKA Hatey) that the Rus are losing the…” Sep 19, 18:37
Dan on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Massively wealthy UK “businessman” and tax resident in Monaco who lays off loads of folk from companies he is involved…” Sep 19, 18:03
factchecker on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “In the last 30 years, on a population basis Scotland should have had a Prime Minister for 3 of them.…” Sep 19, 18:00
TURABDIN on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “assuming your post is not ironic, which i believe it might be, the current UK cabinet has one Scot in…” Sep 19, 17:29
TURABDIN on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “One cannot be too choosey about ones friends or you might end up with none. One may sup….with a long…” Sep 19, 17:10
