Justice stirring
Alert readers will know that for the past 15 months Wings has been investigating the apparent disappearance of almost £600,000 raised from supporters of independence (not just SNP voters) by the SNP in two fundraising campaigns in 2017 and 2019.
The money was supposedly to be “ring-fenced” for spending ONLY in a future indyref, and the party gave explicit and hotly-stated guarantees at the time of the first appeal that the money would definitely NOT be spent on party business.
But when the party’s 2019 accounts were published they showed that the SNP had less than £100,000 in the bank at the end of that year, and total net assets of less than £272,000. The £600,000 from the fundraisers was nowhere to be found, and the then-party treasurer’s feeble insistence that it was “woven through” the accounts in some unspecified way satisfied only the most gullible.
This week Wings Over Scotland has been told that the matter is now officially under investigation by the police.
We have few concrete details but what we know is as follows. Wings has been given the following statement:
“On 25 March 2021 I phoned 101 to make a complaint and I received an incident number and an appointment at Barrhead Police Station.
I can confirm I then made a complaint to Police Scotland on Saturday 27th March 2021 at Barrhead Police Station, stating that following the resignation of three members of the Finance and Audit Committee of the SNP, having been refused access to the SNP accounts, I told the police that I believed that financial fraud may have occurred.
That same evening two members of the Financial Investigation Unit of Police Scotland came to my home and I gave them a formal statement under the incident number PS202103252082. In addition [REDACTED] gave donations towards the missing money and he is alleging in a civil case that this money was wrongly used. This is currently subject to a civil case at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.”
(We are not disclosing the identity of the complainer at this time.)
We were also informed last night, by a different source, that on Tuesday of this week, 30 March, officers visited the home of the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and her husband Peter Murrell in connection with their investigation, a few hours prior to the First Minister’s appearance on a BBC televised debate, at which some commentators remarked that she appeared tired and sub-par.
For clarity, we must emphasise that despite our best efforts we have NOT yet been able to verify this claim. We contacted Police Scotland shortly before 9pm last night, who gave us the following comment 14 hours later:
“Hi Stuart
Apologies for the delay in responding but just to advise, we don’t provide information on who we may or may not be speaking to.
Kind regards
[———–]
Corporate Communications National Newsdesk
Police Scotland”
However, we believe our source to be a reliable one.
We asked if Police Scotland could at least simply confirm the fact of the investigation in general terms, and received this response:
“Hi Stuart
Sorry can you please just clarify what matter you’re referring to, specifically?
Many thanks,
[———–]
Corporate Communications National News Desk
Police Scotland”
We explained the basic outline of the allegations and passed on the incident number which had been given to us. A couple of hours later we got this reply:
“Hi Stuart
Just to advise that I am not able to provide any further information to you at this time.
Kind regards
[———–]
Corporate Communications National Newsdesk
Police Scotland”
As readers will have read hundreds if not thousands of statements from the police to the press confirming that an investigation into something is ongoing but declining to give further details, their reluctance to either confirm or deny the mere existence of this one seems rather peculiar.
(At a minimum, if the incident number we were given was a fake, we cannot imagine a reason for Police Scotland not to say so. And if it’s real, why is it a secret?)
This site makes no allegations of criminality against anyone. But it is a matter of public recorded fact, undisputed by the SNP, that it raised almost £600,000 for what it calls the “Referendum Appeal Fund”, and it is also a matter of public recorded fact that in the party’s last published accounts it did not have even half that much money at its disposal, either in cash or net assets. These two facts appear impossible to reconcile, and in over five months we have received no replies to our enquiries to both the party’s current and previous treasurers on the subject.
At this point in time there remain far more questions than answers about the matter. We can only hope it’s true that the latter are now at least being actively sought.
The Pong Good Friday.
It may be that nothing was confirmed or denied due to the proximity of the forthcoming election. Just a thought.
How do we go about getting a refund?
Something in the deep does not want to be disturbed.
Oh goody
£600k, woven through the basket case that is the SNP. Gonna take a lot of whitewash to cover this one…
Wow.
I wonder where the money went
Well, the SNP always find a way of leaking to the press, BBC and the police when it suits them. Why so quiet on this one? lol. I am sure the police will be reluctant to be involved, unlike the Salmond case, be interesting to see if they find a ruse to drop it, which I am certain they will be under massive pressure to do so. After all, we know how cosy their relationship is with the SNP and certain individuals.
Of course if we had a proper parliament, with associated powers, they might be interested in this case, amongst many others involving this administration.
Funny that the SNP is content with a Mickey Mouse parliament, and docile police force/Crown Office when it comes to them.
Let the squirreling commence.
How very interesting. When someone commented on Sturgeon’s demeanour and performance during the TV debate a few days ago, I suggested that her conscience was probably troubling her. Little did I know!
It’s your money I’m after, baby…
Isn’t there some way that the SNP finances can be independently audited?
But Douglas has been awful busy:
“My latest newsletter is now available – give it a read and see some of the things I’ve been up to over the past month”
link to twitter.com
Just not busy trying to find the missing money.
Or busy letting us all know that the people he put in charge of investigating where the money went have all resigned (where *is* the official minutes of that NEC meeting?)
I didn’t get an email informing me of this new post. This hasn’t happened before.
Additionally whoever received and spent this money without declaring it as Income has defrauded HMRC !!
Wonder if Lights oot fae Stirling can justify maybe receiving money and paying a Bill. Still has the Tax to pay if its the case !!
The first thought that popped into my head was, “Who is funding the lawyers?”
So the 5 0 is on her 6 going after the big 600 eh? 😉
Rumour has it that Sturgeon has 2 superinjunctions in place but for obvious reasons no one knows on what.
Could one of them be regarding the missing money and that’s why Police Scotland can’t confirm the investigation?
Even if the police investigation goes nowhere, there’s still a civil case brewing…so best to pre-order thon popcorn.
An arresting development!
How did it come to this? 🙁
They wont get another vote from me as long as the Murrells are still running the party.
A visit from the police and then a leaders debate. Even the most hardened liar would find that difficult to worry about. It explains a lot about her demeanor.
Brilliant. I donated to that.
I want my money back.
They probably spent it on lawyers fees in their efforts to fit up Salmond
Why can no one get to the bottom of this. As another comment suggested. Can there not be an independent audit of the accounts. This appears to be fraud and death and taxes indeed. Only the little people pay taxes eh!
Alan Thoms, the SNP accounts are independently audited. link to search.electoralcommission.org.uk
The auditors are Johnston Carmichael, apparently Scotland’s largest accounting firm (I assume they mean outside the Big 4).
I had to resubscribe
How weird
The deception is obvious. We all thought she was focus and taking us into an Indy campaign to get us out of this dysfunctional union. It’s bad enough that the money is gone, but twice she raised money to fight a campaign for independence and didn’t even try to move forwards with independence. Money and lies. She needs to go.
” on Tuesday of this week, 30 March, officers visited the home of the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and her husband Peter Murrell”
Obviously, they just happened to be passing and popped in to say hello.
Peter arrived home, saw the polis and so went for a shower.
Good news. Question: Let’s suppose a political party was technically insolvent – under Electoral Commission rules, would they be allowed to field candidates?
And just how much of this story will make the weekend press? I suspect diddly & squat.
There isn’t actually anything in this post that is really news. Just something you claim someone told you, and something you feel is peculiar.
I’m looking forward to the meat and veg … whenever that gets served up.
(Don’t freak out, everyone. It’s not an attack, just an observation.)
A further thought:-
Super Injunctions cost a lot of money. Two S.I.’ s cost twice as much. If true, were party funds used for these?
The plot thins.
Do you think the lord advocate will dare to try and scupper this investigation ?
Possibly the wokeratti could all chip in – about £20,000 each should do it.
Mind you it has taken my mind off the fact that I’m starvin’.
Yet another excellent piece of work from Rev Stu but I can’t see this police “investigation” going any further than a cup of tea and a biscuit with the Murrells. Of course I’d be delighted to be proved wrong.
Separately, I see Sturgeon is back on message today, questioning Alex Salmond’s behaviour towards women and accusing him of “hindering the cause of independence.” You’ve got to admire her brass neck.
The ISP had the decency to offer a refund of donations which will not now be used for the purpose stated in the fundraiser. A tiny, potless party has infinitely more integrity than the sewer the SNP has become of late. #Murrellout
When it was finally disclosed at the Fabiani Inquiry that Nicola Sturgeon had been advised by her pet-lawyers that the civil prosecution of Alex Salmond was doomed for failure, but she decided to proceed anyway and that puts us into the realms of ‘mallicious prosecution’. That was for the civil case of course. Alex will have to establish the case for the criminal prosecution was also doomed from the start. From what I have read on these pages about the conspirators also being the accusers, that may not be that difficult.
It’s all coming-out on a daily basis now. One scurillous Murrell confection after another. There are many, many victims of this. Alex Salmond is the most high profile but there are others too.
Good luck to Alex Salmond for the months ahead and congratulations to Stuart Campbell for some fine investigative work which we would not see anywhere else.
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Joanna Cherry’s spirits are improving by the day. We might yet get some government in Scotland free from John Swinney and his redactor pen.
Not to worry. I’m sure the subs from all their millions of new members will make up the shortfall. Or maybe Pension Pete could dip into his expense account.
To be honest this does reek.
The SNP could have released a statement many months ago.
they might have even admitted – ‘yes it is spent, however we did arrange a guaranteed O\D facility of £600,000 at the same juncture to ensure the actual fund was there and accessible’…
Not ideal, but not illegal.
They coudl have said – ‘actually it is all in a separate holding account under a completely different legal entity to ensure the ‘ring fenced’ nature of the donations’.
but no.
nothing.
Not a peep.
and when a new Finance convener was elected to the NEC – they and others were refused access to the accounts.
Like I said, it reeks.
Someone will find it down the back of a sofa or something. They’ll get away with this investigation too.
They got Al Capone on tax evasion
The police said they wanted to see the books. Sturgeon took them through and said “Here they are officers, a fine library of Scottish contemporary novels”.
And she is a lawyer. Had to know this would catch up with them at some point. Her defence will be, ‘I dont know’ ‘I was not aware of that’ ‘Alex Salmond is a bad man’.
One thing is for sure – the SNP will never be able to raise that sort of money again. Sure they will probably get through this embarrassing episode, and retain power for a while, but the damage has been done. In the long term it could prove fatal for the party.
BTW the 500K “wasted” on the AS case is only what the SG had to pay AS. What about the SG’s legal costs? Must run into millions. Tip of the iceberg methinks.
I’m not saying it’s an analogous example or anyhin’, but Watergate was funded out of donations for the “Committee To Re-Elect the President” (CREEP)
It’s a bit of a pyrrhic victory for me.
Yes I want to know what happened to the funds and have them replaced
but if it’s been frittered away on idiotic legal bills etc
the weight of the U.K. media is going to sink SNP at the Holyrood elections.
As we pretty much agree, only a massive SNP First vote and Alba Second
gives any hope of a victory for the independence movement.
It’s bad enough traversing the unionist’s fake accusations with out handing them ammunition.
What a house of cards… or ripping the knitting, pull a yearn and it all starts to unravel.
The SNP leadership were given numerous chances to deal with this internally. They didn’t take them – apparently hoping to hide everything till after the election and apparent validation/enforcement of their gender woowoo and wrongthink “hate crime” policies, never mind independence.
Today’s American rabid social justice warriors probably don’t think Scotland deserves to be an independent country because, as part of the UK union, Scots participated in slavery in the colonies (mostly the Caribbean).
These modern, ahistorical screeching “social justice warriors” forget – or do not know about – the ethnic cleansing that happened in Scotland.
The Highland Clearances. A way of life, a culture, a language, DESTROYED. People shipped across the big watter to another continent.
As to the SNP, now they’re being found out. Right before the election, at the worst possible time.
Like, how politically, strategically and tactically INCOMPETENT do you have to be to let this happen?!?
And NO, it’s not Alex Salmond’s or the Alba Party’s fault, no matter how much the beleagured SNP want to blame anybody but themselves.
“What about the SG’s legal costs? Must run into millions. Tip of the iceberg methinks.” The SG has what they like to call a legal “stable” in Edinburgh somewhere (sounds like I am kidding, but I’m not). Anyway, the legal stable’s full of £500/hour Advocates, QC’s and miscellaneous other legal spoofs. “Millions” is about right. Cannot be any more specific….sorry.
Luigi, not sure it’s millions, at least not in terms of the conduct of the civil case. Any fees paid to outside counsel will have a profit element built in (traditionally one-third to owner, one-third to staff and one-third to overhead). However, for inside legal advice, the profit element will not exist and the overhead is probably a bit smaller. I imagine the thick end of a million quid of taxpayers’ money was spent for both sides of the case.
Now, if you include the enquiries, necessary because of the SG’s actions, this is where it mounts up and that will run into the millions. I don’t suppose we will ever know the true cost because, apparently, governments do not keep that sort of information any more. (Any takers for a very nice structure over a river in Brooklyn, NY? Buyer collects.)
“It was just resting in my account!” You can see how this would take the wind out of your sails. If it turns out to be the case, which I believe it will, I wonder who the patsy will be? Or will staff refuse to be thrown under that very busy proverbial bus. This may be the very last straw. I watch with interest.
I wonder if this is one reason Alex Salmond is trying to get back into Holyrood. If Sturgeon goes we’re going to need a new FM – and FMs are elected by Parliament, so even an independent MSP can be FM however unlikely it might seem.
US Capitol Building on lockdown.
Now look what you’ve done…
Does the SNP have the status of a Charity?
Does Scotland have a Charity Commission?
Just put this in comments on National, removed after 3 mins. I have screen shot.
shiregirl at 5:57 pm
I didn’t get an email informing me of this new post. This hasn’t happened before..
Nope, me neither. Also didn’t receive emails for ‘Why women want Alba’ and ‘To the National Secretary’ – thought it was just my emails playing-up?
In Sturgeon and Murrell’s Scotland, a person is guilty unless found innocent.
Alex Salmond was held guilty by the media, because of the illegal leak which almost certainly came from and with the express authorisation by Sturgeon, IMHO.
Alex Salmond is still held guilty by Sturgeon, Rape Crisis Scotland, the BBC and the rest of the MSM despite being cleared by a jury.
By their own definition, Sturgeon and Murrell are therefore guilty of embezzling £600,000 of independence supporters’ “ring-fenced” donations.
Until found innocent by the corrupt lying criminal James Wolffe, Lord Advocate of Scotland.
Is there any part of the SNP, at Parliamentary, Executive or even Branch level, that is not fraudulent, corrupt and/or allegedly under investigation by the police, Parliamentary authorities, or “the Party” itself?
Before Inquiry Number Three begins,
Before we begin to consider the possibility of criminal behavior, (perish the thought!,) it seems these individuals are not acting like the kinds of people who have carefully planned a campaign with the intention of winning it. One could almost suspect they didn’t expect to have a campaign at all. But what would I know…?
ALANM says:
2 April, 2021 at 6:13 pm
Yet another excellent piece of work from Rev Stu
Apart from the first three paragraphs which are known facts, the rest could actually have been made up by someone having a boring afternoon sitting on their sofa with their laptop. Seriously.
Utterly shameful business, the likes we all have been sadly accustomed to here in Scotland. And to think I donated that as well. Whether or not criminality is discovered, I hope justice is served. I donated to the campaign for an Independent Scotland, not to satisfy Murrell and Co’s lifestyle.
Yes I want to know what happened to the funds and have them replaced
but if it’s been frittered away on idiotic legal bills etc the weight of the U.K. media is going to sink SNP at the Holyrood elections.
I feel the same nervousness about this story. For a major majority we need SNP and Alba (with a few green). Bringing the SNP, or even Sturgeon, down right before an election doesn’t seem a great way to achieve this, even if it does need done (or is inevitable) longer term. I guess police investigations move slowly though, so it may be after May any result happens. Also, it’ll be interesting to see whether the media actually do report this. There’s a fair chance they won’t, especially if is has anything to do with the Salmond case.
@Salmond dindunuffin says:
2 April, 2021 at 6:30 pm
I’m not saying it’s an analogous example or anyhin’, but Watergate was funded out of donations for the “Committee To Re-Elect the President” (CREEP)
Ah, we’re back to the Fall again…
There’s a strong possibility that Alyn Smith’s defamation costs came out of the £600,000. I believe it was in the region of £160,000.
Alyn Smith has done more to destroy the party with his woke army based at Stirling University. He courts the trans mob lead by the aggressive drug dealing Leeze Lawrence trying to force their distorted views on the rest of us.
It nearly worked but they are starting to be seen for what they are. Smith, Lawrence and the wokerati need to be kicked out of the SNP as soon as possible before there is no SNP left.
Every cheap, two-bob hack, loving this story/hating the source/loving/hating/loving hating..
Wonder who’ll ‘break’ it first?
COPFS: “We found no cause to..”
I’m not very confident that Police Scotland will vigorously investigate the missing indyfunds. The Lord Advocate sits in on Sturgeons cabinet meetings, I’m pretty sure he liaises regularly with Ian Livingstone the Chief Constable of Scotland who then passes on info to his commanders on how he wants things done.
Then of course there’s the Justice secretary Humza Yousaf, who will do everything in his power to hinder and slow up the investigation.
I fully expect any investigation to be kicked into the long grass.
Skip_NC says,
“The auditors are Johnston Carmichael, apparently Scotland’s largest accounting firm (I assume they mean outside the Big 4).”
I hope they go the Arther Anderson way for covering up fraud.
It amazes me that the SNP finances are in such a pickle after the generous donations from the Weir’s lottery win. Surely some of the money (£6.4m?) should have been invested to aid the cause?
The whole thing reeks, including raising the complaint now. There are enough lurkers on here with butcher’s aprons on their twitter bio who would have skipped their way to the police station with a big cheesy grin on their pus when the Rev first posted this.
Excellent investigative Journalism.
It should be on the front pages of all the red tops tomorrow!!
SNP beaks visited FRAUD SQUAD over missing Independence Fund! Shifty Murrell and Sturgeon visited by COPS hours before TV debate. A source close to Sturgeon said, she looked JADED!
Jim Kennedy @ 6:21
“And she’s an lawyer”
I think you may find she is not because she walk away from her legal career confirmed as having 3 x Profesional malpractice findings leaving a domestic abuse client abadoned seeking another lawyer.
link to thecourier.co.uk
Money money money eh
macnakamura says,
“Obviously, they just happened to be passing and popped in to say hello.
Peter arrived home, saw the polis and so went for a shower.”
I hope it backfires spectacularly on all the criminal conspirators who tried to jail Alex Salmond on false charges.
Another strategic blunder by the SNP. Knowing this was a ticking bomb this issue should have been confronted & defused ages ago & well before the election. If there is something to own up to it should have been done much earlier & try to repair some of the distrust before unionist opponents have a field day. Hell mend them I suppose.
David Hannah says:
2 April, 2021 at 6:57 pm
Excellent investigative Journalism.
It should be on the front pages of all the red tops tomorrow!!
You read this part, right? ; “For clarity, we must emphasise that despite our best efforts we have NOT yet been able to verify this claim. ”
There is actually nothing beyond the first three paragraphs that couldn’t have just been made up. I’m not doubting the missing money and the probability of an investigation – but this particular piece is just one big stop-gap really.
These comments are so telling:-
‘The whole thing reeks, including raising the complaint now’
and
‘Bringing the SNP, or even Sturgeon, down right before an election doesn’t seem a great way to achieve this’
It’s no-ones fault except Sturgeons. If you have been reading Wings regularly you will know for months Stu has been saying that Sturgeon is so compromised she should resign.
Well this could be those chickens coming home to roost.
What do you expect before an election ? Of course all the skeletons are going to come out the closet.
I guess we’re not going to give the snp our first vote?
I see the supermajority slipping away
O/T.
But on a positive note, the ALBA party now has more members than the Scottish Lib/Dems, and its not even a week old yet.
link to thenational.scot
Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I’ll be watching you
Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I’ll be watching you
We are about to have social media buzzing with this story. 600,000 missing, a police investigation, a court case ( at least one) and YET the media are not covering it. They are going to look increasingly stupid over the next few days.
Where is the money Peter? Why will you not let anyone see the books?
Where does this leave the new SNP Treasurer?
As much of a fraud as the previous one.
Craig Murray had described him as a good man or something like that.
Certainly doesn’t seem any good to me.
shiregirl says:
2 April, 2021 at 5:57 pm
I didn’t get an email informing me of this new post. This hasn’t happened before.
I have noticed same thing… dirty tricks???
Glasgow’s famous Human Rights lawyer Amar Anwar will take the gig and work for free. He loves the Murrells.
Back in the old days they would perhaps have gone to Joe Beltrami, he was a far better lawyer but he wouldn’t have done it for free. I don’t think the thoroughbred racehorse lawyers at the Edinburgh stable will touch this unpleasant stuff either. It sounds like it’s Amar Anwar then
Whereas breaking the ‘Ministerial Code’ was all a bit amorfous wan’t it, this time it’s straightforward criminal law and will be small potatoes for Police Scotland.
They should have this wrapped-up within a fortnight.
I’ll say one thing for Willie Rennie, Ruth and Anas, like them or loath them they wouldn’t get themselves involved in any of this sort of stuff, would they? I missed-out Patrick Harvie….I don’t know too much about him.
I also thought Sturgeon was strangely disconnected at the debate. I was going to comment on here that I thought she looked like she had one foot out the door already. This is a very interesting ‘rumour’ and potential explanation.
Couple of things…
From a financial and legal perspective “woven into” is the diametric opposite of “ring fenced”. They are not just different meanings, they mean the extreme opposite of each other.
“Ring fenced” funds that you get donated, you keep separate from the other funds, you do not touch them for any other reason, you do not use them for any other purpose, they are “ring fenced” from all of that. There is a ring of fencing around them to protect them form being used for the wrong purpose.
“Woven in” means as soon as the 600k hits the bank account it is treated just the same as every other pound received, it is pooled, it becomes indistinguishable, and thus it gets used up with all the other funds received and spent on all usual the run-of-the-mill expenses, like Perter Murrell’s and Sue Ruddick’s enormous (SNP members blood sucking) salaries.
Lastly it is one thing to raise the money in good faith and then spend it in desperation as funds run low.
It is entirely different to, when funds are running badly low to knowingly go out and raise money on false pretenses, promising to ‘ring fence’ the money raised, and then to cynically use it to pay off your own shabby bills and expenses.
Irrespective of intent people go to jail for this sort of thing all the time. But I would bet my mortgage that it was the latter case and not the former case. They just needed the money and this was a convenient ‘grift’ to get it.
There is very clearly an out of control culture in the SNP leadership there where they think they are untouchable, above the law, that they can get away with anything because they are so smart and everyone is so stupid.
They are heading for a big fall. The question is whether they take the independence movement down with them. I am very glad ALBA is now on the scene as back-up but also as competition to keep them honest or at best less crooked.
Police Scotland have a statutory duty – where there is reasonable cause to suspect a crime has been committed – to record it as such on a Crime Report, and on that Crime Report list all enquiries made until the matter is concluded (which may at some point include the matter being deemed civil and ‘no crime’, or inssufficient evidence or with someone being charged and reported to the PF). Point being they still have to record it.
The person who filed the complaint with Police Scotland has been provided with an Incident Number.
They should re contact Police and ask for a Crime File Number or a Crime Report Number or the equivalent – (different Divisions from Legacy Forces still have the old software, so the report has different names in different areas of Scotland).
Once the complaint has been completed, they will be entitled to a redacted copy of the Crime Report, including and Intelligence entries made/held about the complainer, although they may need to request these via a lawyer.
As the complainer, they are entitled to the Crime Number, and it is usually issued (after a wee while) as a matter of course.
It is likely that the move to employ Marco Biaggio in the planning for indy team is a ploy to divert the money already spent, and hide it as legitimate expenditure.
Any explanation of that type, should of course be kept as evidence.
Since no Indy Ref 2 has been called, any explanation of this kind, used by the Police to attempt to re-brand this as a civil matter, should not be accepted and names of officers stating as much noted for the purposes of making complaints of neglect of duty.
Likewise, as this appears to have been a widespread attempt to defraud the public, questions should be asked of Police Scotland – given their slogan ‘keeping people safe’ as to why they are not warning the public, and appealing for witnesses.
It might be worth also, seeing how many people who contributed, would also like to register a formal complaint with Police Scotland. If it is large numbers… it adds to the pressure.
Ultimately I’m reminded of the Cash For Ash scandal in NI. But it doesn’t mean we should make it easy for the bams.
Hope this is of help.
For those who have observed that most of this article could have been made up bu Stu’s sources, I would observe the following:
1. The money may have never landed in the SNP accounts and is, instead, sitting in an obscure non-consolidated accounting unit. Of course, the smart thing for the SNP to do would have been to say so some months ago.
2. The SNP have already told the public that the donations are “woven through the accounts.” Therefore, 1. must be false.
So we look at the accounts. I believe the ring-fenced fundraising took place in 2017. People with more knowledge can correct me on that if necessary. As at December 31, 2017, cash at bank & on hand was less than GBP8,000. The only credible place, in the accounts, for the rest of the money is at Note 21 (Creditors) which shows GBP506,000 owed to accounting units. So, if GBP600,000 was raised, money has gone missing. This is being charitable, mind you. Amounts owed to accounting units in 2016 was GBP557,000. I do not know the fine detail of the accounting units, but money being owed to different subsidiaries of a business is normal at any point in time.
In short, 2 above must also be false. It is, therefore, a matter of public concern and it is reasonable for anyone who contributed to the fund, on the understanding that it would be ring-fenced for an independence referendum, to report the matter to the police.
As has been discussed before, I suppose they could have a line of credit or overdraft facility. However, that would stretch the meaning of “ring-fenced” to its limit.
Sturgeon is showing her true self these days, slinging mud at an innocent man. She is still trying to dirty his name. her behaviour is so childish and she definitely is NOT a statesperson. Sarwar is more of a statesperson than her – and that is saying something. The sycophants in her party drip hypocrisy.
I think the new treasurer is a good man at least he comes across as one, and I can think of no reason he should risk his career trying to cover up financial wrongdoing he’s not responsible for
Is it possible he’s keeping quiet because he knew there was gonna be a police investigation or at least suspected it ?
hey Peter –
link to quickbooks.intuit.com
HTH
request email notification
Hi Skip_NC
My issue with this post wasn’t the facts you mentioned, it was the rest of the post after the paragraph that starts “This week..” that is a little … well, it’s just someone saying stuff.
In a functioning democracy with meaningful separation of powers this clown show would have been wound up ages ago. Trouble is Scottish civic society has reached Mugabe/Zimbabwe levels of bonkers so I expect nothing much to come of this latest debacle. Shame.
If our highly regarded COPFS is looking for some long grass to kick this into, I’ve yet to cut my front lawn!
Just saying…
Interesting times we live in. Ever more so..
It occurs to me that the wording “money to fight a campaign for independence” is ambiguous.. deliberately so? 😉 😯
Money to fight a campaign …. for independence = INDY
Money to fight a .. ‘campaign for independence’ = ANTI-INDY
Has it been spent on various measures tending to obstruct Indy?
Remember when I was critical of Shona Robinson and the lack of Scot Govt scrutiny of the Scottish NHS?
Then came this in April 2018: “NHS Tayside temporarily suspended its constitution to allow the cash transfer from the endowment fund into general expenditure to happen…”.
(NHS Tayside Chief Executive) “Prof Connell resigned after coming under pressure from Ms Robison to step down”.
(Shona Robison later resigned as Cabinet Secretary in June 2018).
Clearly, the NHS Tayside case shows borrowing money can be a resignation matter “to maintain public confidence” even if criminality is not involved.
Mac says,
“Lastly it is one thing to raise the money in good faith and then spend it in desperation as funds run low.”
Absolutely, it is embezzling.
Embezzling of course is a crime.
Apart of finding out who committed the crime, it will be most interesting to find out who tried to cover up the crime with the “woven through” lie.
Political party auditing is very weak. I read the accounts are audited only for fair reporting, what money came in, where money was spent, etc. NOT if money was spent on what it should have been spent on. So the auditors would have no mandate for tracking the £600k separately. This was explained on twitter ages ago but I may have the details wrong. I was left with the impression that the audit is just a view of status of moneys, etc, not for tracking that money was spent appropriately.
It’s one thing after another. And NS had the cheek to suggest AS wasn’t fit for office.
Great work Stu getting this out before the election.
The SNP can still recover this if they dump the Murrells and put someone trustworthy and appealing up in front of the press, leading up to the election. It’s imperative the SNP leadership act now, before the whole rotten mess ends up on the front pages just as Scots have to vote.
AS’s timing is impeccable.
Hi Skip_NC
My issue with this post wasn’t the facts you mentioned, it was the rest of the post after the paragraph that starts “This week..” that is a little … well, it’s just someone saying stuff.
@shiregirl (5.57) et al –
No email notification here either.
First time it’s happened, so far as I’ve noticed anyway…
Most peculiar!
@Derek
What really went on there…
We only have this excerpt
Earlier I doubted if the weekend MSM would follow this story up.
Were they to go big on it they could scupper the SNP at the election. Now a cynic could argue that this might suit certain Unionist factions and damage any chance of a super majority. It’ll be interesting to see which way the press jump, or are pushed.
Mac says.
“Lastly it is one thing to raise the money in good faith and then spend it in desperation as funds run low.”
Absolutely.
It is embezzling – a crime.
In addition to finding out who committed the crime, it will be most interesting to find out who tried to cover up the crime with the “woven through” lie.
Swinney is an accountant, isn’t he?
I would consider him to be the prime suspect for the “woven through” lie.
In Sturgeon, Murrell and Wolffe’s Scotland, you are guilty until proven innocent.
I know and have worked in the SNP with Mr Douglas Chapman from about 2001 to 2011 and he is in my opinion an honest trustworthy and dedicated person in the pursuit of his job description and the independence movement.
Let’s just give the polis a bit of time to have a keek into the situation.
I’m going to make a wild guess and suggest that it wasn’t really ring fenced that well and was been pissed away in various campaign costs, offices expenses, salaries, adverts etc etc., as opposed to sitting in a Cayman Islands account held by N. Sturgeon, which I deem a bit unlikely. In other words, incompetence and carelessness rather than corruption. Arguably, this may still be a breech of campaign finance laws, of course.
Craig Murray got it right with his yes minister parody. Mud sticks.
Nothing on STV news or C4. ONLY continued smearing of Alex and crap about a poll done a week before Alba launch. No shocks there then.
What you gonna do Willie Rennie, the same as SNP and say we’ve had an influx of new members this week and are now at 100,000 ?
lol
A rich Nicolyte will come up with cash before it’s a problem, wait and see.
Rev Stu – Wot are you like eh? Casting false allegations on the saintly Sister Nicky and her beloved Brother Peter – both paragons of honesty, probity and upright character. Can you not see that the missing money has simply been “resting” all this time in the late Father Ted’s account?
Doug Chapman is a good guy. Peter Murrell is not!
Monica Worley, the auditors concurred with the former National Treasurer that the Going Concern basis is appropriate as it relates to the 2019 accounts. This is Enron, albeit on a smaller scale. The donated money was never ring-fenced and no longer belongs to the SNP.
De brus, I see your point. Someone could be making this up and, in theory, it could even be a rabid unionist, seeking to cause trouble at the tart of an election campaign. I suppose it comes down to Stu’s ability to smell BS. What it does not do is change the salient facts of this case.
By the way, Stu, Net Assets of GBP272,000 includes Intangible Assets with a net book value of of GBP395,000 at at December 2019. These will be written down to zero in due course, if they are not disposed of beforehand. Resale value is probably zero or very close to it. In short, things are worse than you portray.
callmedave says,
“I know and have worked in the SNP with Mr Douglas Chapman from about 2001 to 2011 and he is in my opinion an honest trustworthy and dedicated person in the pursuit of his job description and the independence movement.”
The Rev. Stuart Campbell wrote to him several months ago but has yet to receive a reply.
Three members of the finance committee resigned last week because Murrell had refused to show the books to them.
Has Chapman seen the books?
If he has, why hasn’t he replied to the Rev. Stuart Campbell?
If he hasn’t, why has he not resigned?
We could have said the same about Sturgeon in 2011. Can we now?
IMHO, Chapman is no longer honest even if he was before. He has been corrupted.
Given the heat the SNP are under if they had the 600k ‘ring fenced’ somewhere they would have been making sure every man and his dog knew about it and where it was.
They were doing the opposite, hiding it, and it were it not for Wings they would have gotten away with it, almost entirely unnoticed.
The SNP are not setting some elaborate, long term, trap for wings nor us, waiting for either of us to fall into it, and as soon as we accuse them they go ‘ta-daaah! here is the money’.
Do you really think after seeing how they roll they are anywhere near being smart enough for rich enough or that.
The money is gone, it was spent ‘woven in’ with all the other money. It was never ring fenced, never by any possible definition.
They cookie jar is empty. Whose lips are covered in crumbs and independence chocolate.
A question.
IF some of the funds were used to pay Smith’s libel expenses, does that mean he would be included and liable if any charges were laid, i.e. embezzlement?
shiregirl says:
2 April, 2021 at 5:57 pm
I didn’t get an email informing me of this new post. This hasn’t happened before.
No… nor did I. Or the three previous ones. Seems to be posts from yesterday, possibly day before, that have gone astray. Everything was fine up till then. I wondered if perhaps I had opened my yap once too often & was struck off the Wings list. So in a way I’m glad of the fact its happening to a few folks (sorry, I don’t mean that the way it sounds!)…
I wonder what’s up with the mail going AWOL?
Is it possible that they never raised £600k in the first place? That the amount they raised was so embarrassingly small that to reveal it would be political suicide, so they stick with a tried and tested method – lie.
‘Dunno, It certainly fits the profile.
Honest question though – has the £600K figure ever actually been verified? Is another plausible explanation that the fundraising was a bit of a flop and they told porkies about how well it was going?
We donated to both 2017 & 2019 funds for a referendum and where where paying monthly payments to a Saint Andrews Independence fund, what about the money for these monthly donation for a Independence where’s that money.
Skip NEC
So we look at the accounts. I believe the ring-fenced fundraising took place in 2017. People with more knowledge can correct me on that if necessary. As at December 31, 2017, cash at bank & on hand was less than GBP8,000. The only credible place, in the accounts, for the rest of the money is at Note 21 (Creditors) which shows GBP506,000 owed to accounting units. So, if GBP600,000 was raised, money has gone missing. This is being charitable, mind you. Amounts owed to accounting units in 2016 was GBP557,000. I do not know the fine detail of the accounting units, but money being owed to different subsidiaries of a business is normal at any point in time.
In short, 2 above must also be false. It is, therefore, a matter of public concern and it is reasonable for anyone who contributed to the fund, on the understanding that it would be ring-fenced for an independence referendum, to report the matter to the police.
Answer.
The Accounting Units will be mainly the branches who get a proportion of membership fees. Fees go to HQ, 20% is allocated to the branch and held at HQ until the branch draws it down. So, no, this is not the ring fenced fund.
Remember David MacLetchie? He was bagged from Holyrood for scamming taxi receipts, Wendy Alexander for accepting a few thousand in election expenses from an overseas donor, McLeish for scamming his office rental income, McConnell for an extra-marital affair.
The Police never had to visit any of them. They all had some degree of integrity and just resigned. It will be interesting to see what happens next, won’t it?
Who’s Adamtomforrest from the independent. Christ he’s fired this out
Alba Party: ‘All over’ for Alex Salmond, polling suggests
We’re hardly into thd Alba movement.
Who’s Adamtomforrest from the independent. Christ he’s fired this out
Alba Party: ‘All over’ for Alex Salmond, polling suggests
We’re hardly into the Alba movement.
Hi Stu, Sorry for double post please remove one
@Fred
Looks like we had the same idea!
How much interest would you get on £600,000 over a 5 year period?
“If they won’t come clean, we may need a police investigation to examine if there has been an attempt at fraud here.”
link to scotsman.com
Kcor
From what I’ve seen you’re a one person ‘Spanish Inquisition’ calling out folk here, pestering them for this and that, spreading allegations and wild unsubstantiated opinions on every recent thread.
A right Gagool-like character and no mistake.
Some others might reasonably assume your a plant.
I’ll stick with my comment about D. Chapman.
Maybe we could get Ben Affleck (The Accountant) to look into it. He could probably find out in an hour where it went.
Watched that film last night and he doesn’t half give out some rough justice when he does.
Fred says:
2 April, 2021 at 8:00 pm
Is it possible that they never raised £600k in the first place? That the amount they raised was so embarrassingly small that to reveal it would be political suicide, so they stick with a tried and tested method – lie”
It would make sense to exaggerate that … that’s what political parties do.
Which raises the question – what are the police supposedly investigating then? Was there an actual “real” account of this 600k somewhere, or is that just what the SNP said they’d raised?
This is a genuine question … has someone got the info? Rev, I’m assuming you do, yeah?
All I can find is quotes like “the SNP treasurer, insists that there is £593,501 in the “Referendum Appeal Fund” which is ready to be deployed “instantaneously”” That’s not exactly the same as them actually having proof they raised 600k.
So, if they made this figure up, which is 100% possible, then why would the police be investigating them? They wouldn’t investigate missing money unless there was actually missing money. Otherwise, I’m calling them immediately to say some pinched the 600k i have stashed in my shed.
Looking at %ages , members , donations etc , my allotment group has more money in the bank than the snp , mind we’re an honest bunch us gardeners !
We’d be hung out to dry if we couldn’t provide accounts if asked ,and there’s only 50 of us
looking at it from another angle – are the leadership so arrogant and disconnected from reality that they either ignored this issue as unimportant, or, worse still, they believe that it will be ‘handled’?
Very weird behaviour for a reltively new political party, whose main objective and raison d’etre (supposedly) is to achieve a radical objective (that would be independence, folks) through legitimate processes, if you ask me.
In some ways this is the most damning car crash that the middle manager and her slippery husband has allowed to happen, because either way it speaks to very very flawed judgement.
@Republicofscotland 2 April, 2021 at 6:51 pm
“I’m not very confident that Police Scotland will vigorously investigate the missing indyfunds. The Lord Advocate sits in on Sturgeons cabinet meetings, I’m pretty sure he liaises regularly with Ian Livingstone the Chief Constable of Scotland who then passes on info to his commanders on how he wants things done.
Then of course there’s the Justice secretary Humza Yousaf, who will do everything in his power to hinder and slow up the investigation.I fully expect any investigation to be kicked into the long grass.”
So then , this is what we can look forward to an Indy Scotland being ? A feifdom that exists to make the ruling elite rich.
Carol Neill
Got any free carrots , Carol?
John Digsby says:
2 April, 2021 at 8:03 pm
Honest question though – has the £600K figure ever actually been verified? Is another plausible explanation that the fundraising was a bit of a flop and they told porkies about how well it was going?’
Don’t think this would have been possible as the IndyRef2 was done through a Crowdfunder which gets a commission on the % raised.
Alwi says,
“A rich Nicolyte will come up with cash before it’s a problem, wait and see.”
They would certainly try.
Judy Murray apparently sold her house for more than £700,000 and could have £600,000 to spare to donate to Nicola. After all, Andy supports independence.
But how will they unweave it out of their 2019 accounts?
callmedave says,
“I’ll stick with my comment about D. Chapman.”
And I will stick with mine.
Rob , too early in the season for us but plenty in Edinburgh
@Hatuey says: 2 April, 2021 at 8:15 pm
“If they won’t come clean, we may need a police investigation to examine if there has been an attempt at fraud here.”
link to scotsman.com
======================================================
More on that here link to thecourier.co.uk
As half a dozen others have stated above, I did not get the normal email notifications for this post, and at least two others yesterday.
@AYRSHIRE ROB 2 April, 2021 at 8:27 pm
Carol Neill
“Got any free carrots , Carol?”
Nicola has enough Carrots for all comers.
By way of compare & contrast, Craig Murray very recently offered to refund disgruntled subscribers their money despite being on the verge of a prison term and having no other income stream.
I’m no expert on this stuff but I”m pretty sure he didn’t have to do that.
Talk of acting ‘in good faith’ seems almost embarrassingly naive these days.
We are definitely now in for a day and more of vote SNP 1&2 and Alex Salmond is a sleazebag and it is over for the Alba Party.
Douglas Chapman took over the treasurer’s role early December last year and appointed the 3 members of the finance committee who have since resigned. I think he has understood the issues.
My only question is why did he take on the role ?
I hope they keep it under wraps till after the election, they get a majority, Alba gets a good haul then the pair of them are of to the Poky
Any of you “Still Sturgeon” out there, can you please explain why?
I am campaigning against the corrupt liar in Glasgow Southside Constituency.
Vote Labour 1 and ALBA 2 and it will kick Sturgeon out of the Scottish Parliament.
She will need a lot more free time to fight all these Court cases that are building up.
Sturgeon is a born crook.
What happens if the SNP are found to be bankrupt before the date of the election?
Can they still stand candidates?
Hi Daisy Walker
Do you have a link to the old Crowdfunder page for this? Thanks!
Skip_NC says:
I do not know the fine detail of the accounting units, but money being owed to different subsidiaries of a business is normal at any point in time.
Reply
I can understand that if a business is selling something.
What are the SNP selling? Who would owe the SNP £506,000?
Getting folk to donate £600,000 could be a nice little earner. Stick it in a high interest bank account and you could make a fair bit of money.
Equally you would be quids in if you borrowed £600,000 interest free.
Could the £506,000 have been “lent” to someone interest free to pay a deposit on their house?
This is why I cannot vote SNP candidate colin beattie at the election.
Oh and the small matter of the snp corrupt leadership.
@Disillusioned.
Deposits for candidates MUST be paid with submission of papers or no candidacy. They do not take IOU’s. Bank transfers of actual money required by returning officers.
I donated to this fund. I have a receipt/thank you email from Peter Murrell stating the date of the donation and the amount. I have a later email from Jim Henderson, also thanking me and telling me the sum would be used for towards building the resources for a referendum campaign.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I donated this (fairly large) sum for a referendum campaign (which at that time I thought was relatively imminent). I did not donate it to pay for the inflated six figure salaries of Peter Murrell or Sue Ruddick. If that is where the money went then I genuinely believe I have been a victim of fraud.
If this does turn out to be the case then I will be willing to hand over the emails to any police investigation along with a statement that I sincerely believed the money would be used in a referendum campaign.
I heard a rumour the money was used for Progress Scotland.
SO … as far as I can see the only “proof” we have that the SNP raised 600k is because they said they did.
Hopefully someone can give us a link to some proof this money was real.
If it turns out that they never had 600k to start with then this talk of police investigations must be wrong, and it also explains why they literally can’t, and never have been able to, start an indy campaign. They can’t afford to.
Deposits for List candidates are £500 EACH candidate. Alba claim they are a little party but they’re standing 6 per region. That’s £3,000 per region. The ISP could only afford 2 per region. It was paid and our papers put in all official before they pulled us. They get the deposits back apparently.
But don’t be taken in by Alba’s ‘we’re a little party nonsense. They are minted.
Indy Now @ 8:03pm, that is useful information – thank you. I did not care to speculate in my post on what the Accounting Unit creditors might be.
So the SNP is being supported by its branches. Fair enough, as the accounts were drawn up to December 31st 2019 and there had just been a Westminster election. So now that we know more about the Accounting Unit creditors, it is clear that the SNP leadership has not told the truth. It does not matter whether or not Stu’s source is reliable. The numbers don’t lie and the SNP’s accounts are a whole lot more transparent than Enron’s.
Dear SNP, Where’s the money?
Hi ClanDonald
This still doesn’t mean they raised 600k though, don’t you think?
Captain Yossarian says:
2 April, 2021 at 8:04 pm
Remember David MacLetchie? He was bagged from Holyrood for scamming taxi receipts, Wendy Alexander for accepting a few thousand in election expenses from an overseas donor, McLeish for scamming his office rental income, McConnell for an extra-marital affair.
The Police never had to visit any of them. They all had some degree of integrity and just resigned.
Remember when AS spent all that taxpayers money to stay in a luxury hotel in Chicago while the Ryder Cup was on? Integrity never came into it – he just laughed it off!
At times like this we could all do with a laugh…
“Sturgeon said she could find common ground with the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, after he announced plans to launch a “clean up Holyrood” commission after the election” – Guardian report 02/04/21
de brus says:
2 April, 2021 at 8:48 pm
Hi Daisy Walker
Do you have a link to the old Crowdfunder page for this? Thanks!
Sorry de brus – I don’t have the link – working from memory only.
So let’s get this straight:
– Douglas Chapman is appointed treasurer in December 2021 and makes noises about being open but appears to achieve diddly squat
– Peter Murrell refuses to give the finance committee members access to the accounts, so they resign
– the MSM (surprise, surprise!) rather than being all over this like a cheap suit have been strangely reticent in demanding answers or ferreting out any SNP Deep Throat. Nothing to see here, no siree…! Look…squirrel, Big Eck BAD, Alba Party BAD, #Supermajoritiesarecheating
.
Wha daur meddle wi me.
The good ship Scotland suddenly has many torpedoes in the water:
Alex Salmond’s two.
This one at the missing £600k.
ALBA.
Vote SNP 1, ALBA 2.
I’ve no doubt missed a few, some of them under superinjunction.
Even Craig Murray’s unenviable position is a homing torpedo, circling round and round, its target the paucity of justice in this non-free nation.
But these are just the warning shots. We will be independent, and soon. Don’t get in the way, is what is being advised by these torpedoes, we have many more.
.
(My thanks to the wordsmith, several Blogs previous, launched the metaphor of “torpedoes in the water.”)
There were 2 crowdfunders as I remember one was a referendum fund which raised around £480,000 before it was pulled the other was a campaign to send a leaflet to every household in Scotland called ” Independence A Household Guide” which raised around £180,000 neither of them happened.
My guess is that it would only be if the investigating police believed that some or all of this money had been diverted into someone’s private means, or spent to someone’s private benefit, that the prosecutors would consider a prosecution for fraud.
I should think the principle will be, that if the money has been spent for political party purposes (such as salaries (even inflated ones!), elected representatives’ legal expenses, etc), then it’s a matter for the party as an organisation, to decide whether the high heid yins are spending money properly.
And I also think that this will also apply to donations made by non-party-members. A donation to the party is just a donation, and not a payment for providing a service.
I’d be happy if I turned out to be wrong about this.
Hi Fishy Wullie (great name!)
The pages should still be there though, even though the crowdfunder is over … I can’t find anything. You got links??
Hi Daisy Walker
No worries, thanks!!
link to archive.is
SNP removes independence referendum fundraising page
Published13 June 2017
link to archive.is
CASH ROW Electoral Commission say there’s nothing illegal about SNP Indyref2 fundraising appeal
“The purposes for which parties seek, obtain and use the donations they have received are matters for that party.”
At worst, they suggested the SNP’s fundraising could be considered misleading.”
Is that a polite way of saying it was a scam?
However, an SNP spokesman insisted that the money raised on ref.scot was “ringfenced” for the purposes stated on the website.
link to crowdfunder.co.uk
2500 already
Off topic sort of.
Do we have any updated figures for Alba Party membership? Well it will be less folk that the Murrels can tap to replace any of the alleged missing cash.
I know some of that cash was mine because I bought several Yes2 face-masks and I was told that the SNP owned the copyright for the Yes2 name or was I misinformed. I do feel cheated though.
Membership over 4100 but that was last night.
Muscle guy, its not £500 per candidate in a region its £500 per region so £4000 total
@ de brus
Sadly I don’t have links but I remember the campaigns
Fishy Willie was a character I remember from my childhood in Dundee who sold fish from an old Commer van pissed out his skull on tins of Carlsburg, he probably wouldn’t be popular in this day and age but I remember him fondly 🙂
Latest figures on ALBA memberships given in link below
“Members of the Asian community around Scotland joined in to elect former SNP NEC member Mr Abdul Majid as the Convener of the new group. Scots Asians for ALBA (SAFA) will now apply to be the first affiliated organisation of the new party.”
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
Fishy Wullie says:
2 April, 2021 at 9:20 pm
@ de brus
Sadly I don’t have links but I remember the campaigns
Fishy Willie was a character I remember from my childhood in Dundee who sold fish from an old Commer van pissed out his skull on tins of Carlsburg, he probably wouldn’t be popular in this day and age but I remember him fondly ?
Well in that case I bet he was hilarious!!
Beflox
If it was just made up by someone and wasn’t true the police would have said so.
Hi Ruby
So it was the SNP’s own fundraising site, which means they could say they raised anything they want. “Look, we raised 600k isn’t that great!”
I’m sure the story of this is that they didn’t raise the money in the first place …
Lenny Hartley says:
2 April, 2021 at 9:19 pm
Muscle guy, its not £500 per candidate in a region its £500 per region so £4000 total
Correct
Clan Donald @ 8.58
I have the Jim Henderson Email thanking me for my donation to the referendum fund. Nothing from Peter Murrell but I’m sure my bank statement would come in useful for checking how much they got from me. I also have about 6 e mials from NS asking for donations for Indy refs. March and July 2017
.
Good evening Stuart,
I just read your report at the top of this page and the somewhat exorcising correspondence with Ms MacLean of Police Scotland in which “no comment” appeared to be the generic reply.
The following may be of assistance…
If anyone here has donated their money to the “ringfenced” “Referendum Appeal Fund” and believes it to have gone missing, then the template below may be of help.
Rather than try and obtain third party information on any allegations already subject to inquiry in this matter, any person who donated their money to the “ringfenced” “Referendum Appeal Fund” can obtain their own FRESH explanation on where their money went. Likely have a dedicated police liaison officer to avail them of the progress of allegations
It is crucial that anyone who believes they have been defrauded of funds keeps a written account of correspondence. For example, if you email or post the following missive to your LOCAL police station in Scotland, and, by the way, discharge your civic duty to assist the police with their inquiries, then you have a copy of the letter/email sent.
The original crime or offence numbered report relating to the matter under investigations at Barrhead Police Station is: PS202103252082. Depending on which police station you address your complaint to, you may receive a new number dedicated to the funds you have been allegedly defrauded out of.
————————————————–
TEMPLATE…
————————————————–
The Officer In Charge,
Police Scotland,
[________________] Police Station,
.
.
Dear Sir/Madam,
ALLEGATION OF THEFT AND OR CLANDESTINE POSSESSION
I refer to the report taken by your officers at Barrhead Police Station which I understand to be recorded under the Police Scotland reference number: PS202103252082.
The evidence prompting this concern is the resignation of three members of the SNP Finance & Audit Committee. This leads me to understand that a fraud may have been committed against myself as well:-
A). Either by theft of ringfenced money for use elsewhere other than the purposes for which the subscribers to the (now removed) website advertised and raised these funds to which I donated/contributed.
&/Or:-
B). Theft by clandestine possession. Otherwise known as an infraction of Section 58 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982…
link to legislation.gov.uk
In addition, I believe there may be an attempt to pervert the course of justice as person or persons unknown by:-
C). Removing the evidence of the original cash fundraising website..
link to bbc.co.uk
&/Or:-
D). An allegation that the chief executive of the organisation refused to allow the internal auditors/professional accountants sight of the books of account. A matter of such serious consequence that those with professionally recognised accountancy credentials RESIGNED.
&/Or:-
E). Attempting to fraudenlently cover this alleged theft by redeploying new funds to make it appear that the original (circa) £600,000 currently clandestinely spent on non “ringfenced” items has been present all along, but spent (in the future tense) on…
link to dailyrecord.co.uk
The analogy being that if I stole £10,000 from my employer, but then the theft was found out, and I replaced the missing (clandestinely possessed) £10,000 with fake future dated expense receipts and fabricated contractor invoice receipts totalling £10,000 would hide the alleged criminality.
Providing no one with the experience and credentials of Police Scotland’s Financial Investigation Unit were to forensically examine these false documents uttered as original, the person or persons unknown may well expect to get away with an alleged crime.
Please accept this communication as my formal complaint against the person or persons currently unknown who took my £_____________ on around ____________ (date) under false and/or fraudulent pretences for their own ends.
In the circumstances, PLEASE can you provide me with an acknowledgement to this complaint? Plus a crime or offence number and advice on the progress of the whereabouts and use to which my money has been put?
I am certain the purpose for which the alleged miscreants raised it has not yet occurred and there is reliable accounting reference to prove that my money has already been spent/misappropriated. The money taken from me under false pretences has not been spent on what I was told it would be.
Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
.
.
___________________
Signed and dated.
—————————————————-
This pro forma template should assist those who have donated to this fund and who have reasonable cause to expect their money was raised and used as advertised. Not used by the fundraisers for allegedly fraudulent and/or deceptive purposes.
Police just have to ask Mike Russell.
Couple of weeks ago he tweeted ‘you know where it is’ to someone, which means he knows too.
Re the idea that the SNP never actually raised about £600,000 in the first place.
The crowdfunder for Indyref had a target for 1 million. They pulled it early to ‘save face’. In view of that would they then lie about the total?
Struggling to see how anyone over the age of about 6, would ever condone such a stupid idea, never mind not acknowledging it at the first opportunity.
But in the mean time, hidden salaries, House purchases, rumours of Superinjunctions, hidden accounts, delayed accounts, etc…. you don’t do that if your just skint. You do that if your skint because you spent it when (and where) you should not have.
Monica Worley at 7:33 pm
“Political party auditing is very weak. I read the accounts are audited only for fair reporting, what money came in, where money was spent, etc. NOT if money was spent on what it should have been spent on. So the auditors would have no mandate for tracking the £600k separately. This was explained on twitter ages ago but I may have the details wrong. I was left with the impression that the audit is just a view of status of moneys, etc, not for tracking that money was spent appropriately.”
Not so, any political party with income or expenditure exceeding £250,000 in any year requires a full audit under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. I have reviewed the accounts of the SNP for each of the 3 financial years ending 31 December 2019. This covers the period during which the ring fenced monies were donated. In each year the auditors’ report included the following statements:
“In our opinion the financial statements:
• give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Scottish National Party as at 31 December 20xx and of its deficit for the year then ended;
• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice, and
• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.”
Very importantly they also confirmed that they were happy there were no significant doubts as to the financial viability of the party in the 12 month period following the date of issue of the accounts.
This is standard wording you would expect to see in any audit report and should give credence to the accounts. However, it does raise some significant concerns.
If we accept that the indyref 2 donations were solely for the purpose of fighting the next indyref campaign then you would either expect to see a separate bank account containing those funds in the Balance Sheet with a corresponding liability or specific reserve or, if the funds were lodged in the day to day bank accounts operated by the SNP, you would expect to see those donations separately identified in the Income and Expenditure Account with a specific reserve created in the Balance Sheet or at the very least a note to the accounts explaining the nature of the funds received and the obligations of the SNP party in relation thereto.
Neither is the case so, are we supposed to believe that the funds were lodged in a separate bank account off balance sheet and remain there intact and ready for use? Highly improbable as firstly there is no mention of such an arrangement in the annual accounts and secondly it would have been a simple matter for the SNP to defuse the whole issue by giving this information. The fact that they have not done so and have made previous claims that the funds were “woven through the accounts” strongly suggests that the funds went through their own bank account(s) and were expended for party purposes.
If that is the case then there should have been severe doubts as to the ability of the SNP to continue as a going concern at 31 December 2019 if not before. At that date they had £96,854 in the bank, a working capital deficit of £127,622 and reserves of £271,916. The latter figure includes £239,020 of intangible assets relating to the new membership system which, I may be wrong, were subsequently written off when the system was scrapped. If the SNP had not been treated as a going concern and its Balance Sheet restated on a break up basis, those intangible assets would be worthless. Whether or not the intangibles were of dubious value and subsequently written off, the figures in the accounts should have set alarm bells ringing. I can only assume the auditors were reassured by proof of overdraft facilities on offer from the SNP bankers or costed plans to generate funds in the near future. That aside if, as I believe, the indyref2 donations were swallowed up in the accounts then a substantial potential liability was missing from the balance sheets in each of the 3 years or at least a key factor in assessing the continued viability of the SNP party. You could easily argue that on the basis of the 2019 accounts the SNP were technically insolvent at 31 December 2019. If you bring in a missing liability for £600,000 of ringfenced funds then they were not just technically insolvent – they were 100% insolvent.
In short, unless the SNP can produce a rabbit from the hat and show that there is a separate bank account outwith their financial statements containing all the ring fenced donations made, then we have been lied to yet again and their treasurer, senior officials and auditors should be having sleepless nights.
If I were an SNP party official, even a lowly branch minion, I would be concerned about my financial exposure if this house of cards were to collapse. Perhaps branches would be well advised to use any funds they have managed to keep away from their rapacious head office to take legal advice for the benefit of their members.
de brus says:
2 April, 2021 at 9:24 pm
Hi Ruby
So it was the SNP’s own fundraising site, which means they could say they raised anything they want. “Look, we raised 600k isn’t that great!”
I’m sure the story of this is that they didn’t raise the money in the first place …
Reply
Seems like a daft thing to do.
Ian Brotherhood says:
2 April, 2021 at 8:36 pm
By way of compare & contrast, Craig Murray very recently offered to refund disgruntled subscribers their money despite being on the verge of a prison term and having no other income stream.
Ian, if you believe Craig has no other income stream then I have a bridge in London to sell you.
To begin with, he stated a while ago that his £650k house was to become a B & B, He has royalties from his books, he has £500k invested in his festival business per Company accounts, and £200k in his 2nd wifes film business (home movies perhaps as she is ex lapdancer? ) and finally his Civil Service pension.
He recently mentioned losing some female donations because of his support of trans GRA reform and said it was only £700 per month. The left wing rich always want to pretend to be poor while they live in mansions and drink expensive wine and whisky. Why do you you think the life long liberal started supporting independence last decade? Because he saw the money to made from gullible indy supporters.
Daisy Walker says:The crowdfunder for Indyref had a target for 1 million. They pulled it early to ‘save face’. In view of that would they then lie about the total?
Why not? Are you saying that in the middle of all the lying and corruption we constantly comment on that you’re 100% sure that they are being honest about that?
Has Murrell trousered it?
TBH I contacted the SNP treasurer Colin Beattie via email regarding the ringfenced funds and I included your post in the email
I recd a curt response from Mr Beattie on the 29/10/2020
“Thanks for your email. We have no member of your name and no donation has been made to the referendum fund from someone of your name.”
I am NOT and have never been a member of the SNP so the first part of his response is irrelevent , and although I am convinced I donated something like a tenner I unfortunately cannot find my evidence. If I could I would gladly enter into a class or joint action
With the Alba party polling so badly I’m sure there will be no more smearing of Alex Salmond, since he’s no longer a threat, eh!
What’s that?
The media and Nicola are still smearing him! maybe they know that the low polling figures don’t genuinely reflect the support Alba will be getting.
Ruby says:
Seems like a daft thing to do.
Not really – if they only raised about 90k and then admitted that it would be akin to admitting that no one cared about the idea of an indyref2 … and that would be daft.
For me this is a big issue, or it should be for the hitherto biased Police Scotland.
Can they again disregard and dismiss valid complaint whilst they pursue political vendettas.
And so, will they once again in the wilful dereliction of their duties, or in the wilful malfeasance of the COPFS and the Lord Advocate fail to pursue this alleged case of fraud.
I know what I think, and many too like me. A rotten Police force not to be trusted.
@somerled (9.36) –
My point was that Craig Murray offered to refund money to subscribers if they felt that he had let them down.
I have no knowledge of his ‘income streams’ and neither, I suspect, do you.
In any case, I trust Craig Murray and take what he says at face value.
SNP investigated by Police Scotland.
Quis custodiet custodiens?
Er… the SNP.
If they do try to cover this up with another cover up, covering up the fact that they’ve gone and told PS to cover this up, who will uncover the cover up?
So ‘Wings’ run CHIS’?
If that on ‘yon field looks like a duck, it probably is. What this is starting to look like is less like a duck but a Nat handbag fight. However with Alba polling 3% in the first poll I’m not sure that Alba hasn’t come to the fray without even a handbag.
To be sure of an indyref going their way Nats need to have the polls showing, for a year or more, a consistent above 60% for yes with undecideds below 10. That doesn’t happen. Current polling for indy (POLITICO-an EU outfit) shows 46% for yes, 45% for no. 8% undecided. In September yes was polling 50%.
It appears that polls for Scottish independence merely show approval or disapproval for how Westminster is doing, and I’m beginning to think that this Scots indy thing is like the proverbial mist. Or Brigadoon. It comes and goes.
I’m not a troll, I’m just attempting to show how the desire in Scotland for independence for Scotland actually appears. It looks like a hobby. No one actually wants to have to make a living out of it.
I’m tempted to post this to the Scotland subreddit but it’s just a circle jerk of Nicola cheerleaders.
They’ve been on the attack about Alba all week, I assume this will be ignored as a “conspiracy” as usual.
I manage to hold down a job as an engineering manager in a £20m + manufacturing business.
A big part of my life is doing calculations.
But I’m fucked if I know how it is possible to “weave” £600k through £272k without anyone noticing.
Maybe it’s schrodingers money.
It both exists and doesn’t exist at the same time.
Depending on who’s asking.
Effigy says:
2 April, 2021 at 6:31 pm
“As we pretty much agree, only a massive SNP First vote and Alba Second
gives any hope of a victory for the independence movement.
It’s bad enough traversing the unionist’s fake accusations with out handing them ammunition”.
So what do you think of the person who went to the police at this time. It could have been put off till after the election.
Hi,
The SNP referendum website is still available on the Way Back website.
link to web.archive.org
It’s… Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
This should be to watch SNP – they’ll be raging by Tuesday I bet when it hits target. My guess.
link to crowdfunder.co.uk
£3,433
£50,000 target
13 days left
6%
Anyone got anything solid on the SNP branches having to repay COVID business grants back? Causing a fair bit of noise on social media.
I honestly can’t remember if I have contributed to the ring fenced fund , I know I have previously sent the SNP money but can’t remember for what ,
The template above is helpful and saves a lot of duplication for people that can positively identify transactions ,
My advice GO for it
Sturgeon fans and those who think this is a sneaky unionist move by the MI5 plant Campbell ask yourself this ,how far are you willing to go by turning a blind eye and looking the other way ? just exactly what level will you accept before it gives you cause for concern ? .
To everyone reading this latest saga implicating the management of the SNP if there was no substance in the questions being asked , Stuart Campbell would have a legal team all over his personal affairs and this website would be suspended pending as they say Investigation
Was there not a rumour that Doug Chapman was about to defect and join ALBA ? Then he tweeted that he was staying. That would have been around the time of the police visit to Murrells , if that happened. If Doug is a good man, but was considering defecting because he knew what was going on, perhaps he thought he could expose it easier from the inside ? Just a thought.
Wulls, that puts me in mind of the old accounting joke.
A company is looking for a new auditor and they invite three to pitch for the job. First one goes in and the managing director says “I have one question. What’s 1 and 1?” The accountant replies “2.” MD: “Thanks for coming. Don’t call us; we’ll call you.”
Second accountant goes in. Same question. “Now, you probably expect me to say 2, but I’m going to answer eleven.” MD says “Hmm, interesting. We have one more candidate to interview. We’ll let you know.”
Last one goes in. Again, “What is 1 and 1?” Response: “What sort of number did you have in mind?”
Guess who got the job.
Beaker says:
2 April, 2021 at 10:06 pm
Anyone got anything solid on the SNP branches having to repay COVID business grants back? Causing a fair bit of noise on social media.
———————
Think the rags have it in hand. Links above somewhere. Not going to repost them.
de brus says:
2 April, 2021 at 9:40 pm
Daisy Walker says:The crowdfunder for Indyref had a target for 1 million. They pulled it early to ‘save face’. In view of that would they then lie about the total?
Why not? Are you saying that in the middle of all the lying and corruption we constantly comment on that you’re 100% sure that they are being honest about that?
—————————–
What would they gain about a lie like that – a lie to big themselves up and save face? They know that accounts will have to be submitted. If it was never there in the first place, that would be easy proved.
And if your going to go down that route, why not say you got the full 1 million?
Continuing to lie, risks them being suspected of theft by embezzlement and investigated by the Police, for what, telling a lie to look big? What’s the point.
Much more likely the money was raised, and then got misappropriated, and 4 years of lying and hiding the accounts now makes a lot of sense.
link to tinyurl.com
Sue Ruddick sitting in an Herman Miller chair.
Any guesses what their office chairs cost?
.
Twathater,
Beattie is at it.
You don’t have to be an SNP member to raise concerns over alleged illegality.
In fact I would send a RECORDED DELIVERY letter to Colin Beattie pointing out his response may, at best be ULTRA VIRES.
ULTRA VIRES means something like me writing to you saying you cannot report a murder because I am unable to find your SNP identification. It is simply not within my gift to write you a letter excusing you from the law and allowing you to commit murder!
Twathater, I would point out to Colin Beattie that your concerns are those of a law abiding citizen.
That according to PUBLISHED SNP accounts they don’t have the £600,000 and that a reasonable person may view his reply as obstructing the course of justice at best, or a risk of charges being preferred in perverting the course of justice.
You do NOT need to be a member of the SNP NOR do you need to have donated to the actual crowdfunder to REQUIRE your concerns of ALLEGED criminality answered.
If Beattie is unwilling to answer reasonable questions about a serious amount of missing cash from the organisation he is financially responsible for, then so be it.
A report to Police Scotland should be made and an emphasis on the fairly obscure COMMON LAW crime of THEFT BY CLANDESTINE POSSESSION should be referred to.
This clandestine possession aspect is crucial as the dodgy element within that organisation seem to be shredding evidence like crazy and substituting new, manufactured receipts saying that the £600,000 has sort of been spent on hyper-inflated wages and expenses gearing up for the 2020 referendum which, due to Covid, was cancelled.
Friday Night!
Indy Maxiyes fundraiser is at 7% now. Hee.
Over the rainbow on WGD I just scroll by Paul’s diatribe now to take the temperature on the BTL comments. Slowly, they’re coming round. Just under a month to go …..
The SNP is the Star Citizen of political parties.
Any legal eagles on here? Would the SNP be disbarred from standing if they are, in fact, bankrupt?
Al-Stuart says:
2 April, 1018
This clandestine possession aspect is crucial as the dodgy element within that organisation seem to be shredding evidence like crazy and substituting new, manufactured receipts saying that the £600,000 has sort of been spent on hyper-inflated wages and expenses gearing up for the 2020 referendum which, due to Covid, was cancelled.
=================================================================================================================
I think what is missing is that the money has been missing since before Covid 19 even appeared. That it might have been used or wasted on or before the Dec 2019 Brit GE.
I assume this matter was reported more than once to PS before 30/03/2021 and no action was taken.
We used to have a legal eagle dropthevipers, but he got worried about his income, & prestige.
In Scotland if your assets have been sequestrated to pay a debt on going after bankruptcy. Then you can’t stand for parliament.
Twathater @9.42
Nicola sent out a letter to people asking for funding for an Indy ref and it was sent to non-SNP members as well as SNP members, she was trying to get as many people as possible to donate to the fund and the letter actually said, you do not have to be a member.
But then, of course, they also had a box you could click on if you wanted to join. It was either March or July 2017. Can’t check just now but your bank statement should give you some help.
@Meg – the confirmation email came from info@snp.org and had the title “Thank you for your donation.” It might be worth double checking using those terms in the search box.
” Skip_NC says:
2 April, 2021 at 10:09 pm
Wulls, that puts me in mind of the old accounting joke.
A company is looking for a new auditor and they invite three to pitch for the job. First one goes in and the managing director says “I have one question. What’s 1 and 1?” The accountant replies “2.” MD: “Thanks for coming. Don’t call us; we’ll call you.”
Second accountant goes in. Same question. “Now, you probably expect me to say 2, but I’m going to answer eleven.” MD says “Hmm, interesting. We have one more candidate to interview. We’ll let you know.”
Last one goes in. Again, “What is 1 and 1?” Response: “What sort of number did you have in mind?”
Guess who got the job.”
That brings to mind an occasion many years ago.
I was self-employed and I went to my lawyer to put in a bid for a house. This lawyer was Lord Provost at the time, and a Labour man.
He asked me, ah the carefree days, how much I earned for the purpose of a loan. When I told him, he said, we’ll just double that then. No problem at all.
Herman Miller office chairs,
a mere £1000 a go. Mine 20 years ago now, came from a skip. Still chairing along.
“Captain Yossarian says:
2 April, 2021 at 6:32 pm
The SG has what they like to call a legal “stable” in Edinburgh somewhere (sounds like I am kidding, but I’m not)”
Hate to break it to you champ but QC’s are all self-employed, but they do work together in what are called ‘stables’. Nothing to do with Scottish Government. A stable is a group of QC’s who work together to share admin costs, often premises for consultation, legal expertise etc. This is not new and not any kind of secret Government conspiracy. Google it and you’ll find there are several and each openly advertises their expertise to drum up business. Worked with QC’s from a few stables.
The depths of ignorance of the legal profession shown online (not just here) never ceases to amaze me.
I think we have established that there is no proof that the SNP even raised 600k in the first place, which then suggests that the idea there is an ongoing police investigation into this is just ridiculous.
Looks to me that the money is showing in the accounts, for all to see. 2019 donations show an increase in donations compared to 2018 of around half a million pounds. But not made up of large donations.
That, to me is too much to be a coincidence and to my mind perfectly correct, in the right place. Not missing but correctly allocated.
Doesn’t make sense it is anything else.
And as accounts are generally based on double entry bookeeping, the money is there, in the accounts. And if it isn’t showing as cash in the bank, it has simply been spent.
McHaggis: “The depths of ignorance of the legal profession shown online (not just here) never ceases to amaze me.”
I used to say the same about Prosthodontistry.
It seems there’s a lack of interest quite generally in overpaid bores.
Nats’ handbag fight. All of England sitting back and watching. The makers of popcorn are rubbing their hands.
You do realise that Scotland won’t be independent of Westminster, don’t you? The cause of Scottish nationalism has now become a debased currency. It never was worth that much in sensible heads in Scotland and now Sturgeon and Salmond have decided to drag each other through the mud the whole thing has become comical.
Westminster has it’s mind made up. There won’t be an indyref this side of the next British GE. And the Unionists have time on their side. The polls will show the slide away from support for independence so no Scottish government will dare request a referendum.
I also got a personalised reference number with my thank you letter from Mr Murell so they definitely have a record of it. I donated £200 so it could be big enough to be in a category where they need to declare the donor, hence the reference number and need for an email.
On the subject of ‘weaving’ the money through the accounts – has anyone explored the possibility of them using the donations as an overdraft? This would mean paying off the bank overdraft using the donations because borrowing from yourself is cheaper than borrowing from the bank. Then when they need the funds they’ll re-new the bank overdraft thus releasing the sum back into the bank account. Could this have happened? Can we work out what the overdraft was in 2016 then 2017 and 2018?
Is this related
link to bbc.co.uk
“Shit Stirring” would have been a better name for this post.
It’s based on literally nothing.
Hi Al
So if they had raised 600k why did they shut the fundraiser down? If they had only raised about 90k or some other stupidly low amount I could understand them shutting it down … but they had raised over half what they were trying to get. Then .. they shut it down early??? Doesn’t make sense …
link to crowdfunder.co.uk
Just short of the 10% mark now
beflox says:
2 April, 2021 at 11:19 pm
“Shit Stirring” would have been a better name for this post.
It’s based on literally nothing.“
Are you fucking dim?
The SNP raised several hundreds of thousands of pounds for a ring fenced referendum campaign and a ‘leaflet in every household’
There has been no such campaign. The leaflet campaign never happened.
The SNP are obliged to publish accounts in which there is no sign of the several hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Several people have asked where the money is and none has received a straight answer.
But you think its ‘shit stirring’.
Get to fuck as far as you can go. When you get there, there will be a sign saying ‘do not get any further to fuck than this’… but tell you what champ, you just keep getting to fuck right past that sign.
Prick.
Nats handbag fight.
Best thing that could have happened for the cause of Scottish independence.
beflox says:
“2 April, 2021 at 11:19 pm
“Shit Stirring” would have been a better name for this post.
It’s based on literally nothing.”
Do you mean the nothing where there should be £600k?
Who knows what the fuck is going on ?
link to ft.com
Sturgeon makes as much sense as Ursula von der Leyden
Were either of these two interviews under caution?
Beflox tit @ 11.19 pm
Christ you’re still here? If indy doesn’t bother you, why the fuck you here numnuts?
McHaggis69 says:
Get to fuck as far as you can go. When you get there, there will be a sign saying ‘do not get any further to fuck than this’… but tell you what champ, you just keep getting to fuck right past that sign.
Prick.
Well, that was uncalled for.
Have a read of the post again. There are three paragraphs of fact. The rest … it’s nothing. It’s not a story, except in the fictional sense. Rev himself even says, “we have NOT yet been able to verify this claim.” There is nothing factual here. It’s winding people up, before all the facts have been established, hence “shit stirring.”
If that upsets you then that’s your problem. Your abuse was unwarranted, but unsurprising.
Mr Banana man posting on the Village people platform “ that’s WGD to normal folk “
The current idea that this SNP management do not want independence is a flaky conspiracy theory
Wings Contributors that number around 200 have low self esteem , “ that’s you lot “
I guess that’s how to win friends and influence people eh Mr Banana man please feel free to visit and argue your corner ,let people know what gives you the idea this SNP have done anything to advance the quest for independence , just one thing will do , that’s 1 only one .prove it .
Your ideas and frankly flaky post will guarantee you a top spot on the weird nut job over the rainbow Dementia suffering friends that can’t tolerate criticism of any kind everyone agreeing with each other because they are all taking shite and have been since 2014 it’s like ground hog day every day
AYRSHIRE ROB says:
2 April, 2021 at 11:45 pm
Beflox tit @ 11.19 pm
Christ you’re still here? If indy doesn’t bother you, why the fuck you here numnuts?
I think it’s spelled “numbnuts” …
link to twitter.com
Hi Robert Graham
What’s all that about???!!!!
Nats’ fighting with handbags.
Carry on ladies.
Gone right handed says:
2 April, 2021 at 11:56 pm
Nats’ fighting with handbags.
Carry on ladies
Sadly, you can’t discuss anything with idiots.
Beflox
Nothing to see move on
Aye the inconvenient bit is there is something to see because no credible answers have been given to the whereabouts of the fund’s in question , do you know where they are ?
I guess that’s a no then that’s what Stuart is attempting to find out so what’s your problem ?
Beflox, I think you’ll find it’s only possible to stir shit if there’s shit to stir, my loyal little friend.
And shit there is.
All of this could be put to rest by showing us exactly where that 600k lies, or rests.
That’s the problem with the woven story (which in itself is looking increasingly untenable) — woven isn’t ‘ring fenced. Woven is gone. Used. Deployed.
Even their rabbit holes are fake.
Robert Graham says:
(…) what’s your problem ?
My problem is being abused because I’m questioning something.
I don’t think this post does anything constructive, except wind people up. That’s my opinion of it.
Hatuey says:
my loyal little friend.
what the hell?
And by the way… hats off to Wings for bringing us stories that other sources refuse to go near. The guy deserves an award for this alone.
If Scottish Labour did this, the SNP (along with its cheerleaders in the media and elsewhere) would be all over it, milking it for everything they could.
We can bet the wolfman would be on it too.
@ Clan Donald at 11.13
Thank you for that e-mail address; I had previously searched my inbox and only found messages from Jim Henderson, which did not specify how much I had donated.
I now know that I made donations totalling £30 in March and April 2017, which I am almost sure will have been to the crowd-funder; I have never been a member of the SNP.
I never attended an AUOB march/event but I had thought (perhaps wrongly) that a decent chunk of the cash that ended up in the ringfenced fund had been diverted from AUOB?
If I’m wrong about this then who currently has all the AUOB donations?
Yes loyal. Your position indicates loyalty. Anyone that refuses to acknowledge the veracity of this story is clearly loyal to something other than the truth.
Define “ring fenced” for us, then tell me you are loyal to the truth.
If there is nothing to hide.
Why did 3 accountants resign after being refused access to the accounts. I just think there are some really fucked up Murrell loyalists, who would argue black is white.
Hatuey says:
3 April, 2021 at 12:12 am
Yes loyal. Your position indicates loyalty. Anyone that refuses to acknowledge the veracity of this story is clearly loyal to something other than the truth.
Yeah that’s the problem with being skeptical on a site like this … there is no acceptance of anything but toeing the line … which is a shame.
I don’t have a position.
I am questioning what I am reading, hearing.
Not questioning indicates loyalty.
“ Get to fuck as far as you can go. When you get there, there will be a sign saying ‘do not get any further to fuck than this’… but tell you what champ, you just keep getting to fuck right past that sign.”
McHaggis, I have to admit, I’m impressed by this. It’s got everything, a good plot, character development, the lot.
Are you some sort of divorce lawyer?
@ me at 12.09
If the reference numbers of donations are allocated sequentially, in the 37 days between my donations 9,444 donations had been made, though not necessarily all to the same crowd-funder.
Even if they averaged only £10, donations at that rate over about 6 months would add up to £600k more or less.
Hatuey says:
McHaggis, I have to admit, I’m impressed by this.
That impresses you? That says a lot.
beflox, again, for the record, please define “ring fenced” for me.
You refuse to answer.
If you did answer, truthfully, you’d be acknowledging the stupidity of your own argument.
Hatuey
You’re an idiot. You need a definition of “ring fenced”? You’re on the internet … go look.
You clearly haven’t understood anything I’ve written.
Please note Mr Beflox I haven’t insulted you I haven’t mentioned anything about the replies you might have received regarding your post asserting Stuart Campbell is stirring it , how does questioning the whereabouts f a substantial amount of money that requires a simple answer and the fact people who have been in position that could probably provide the answer have resigned dose that give some cause for concern ? , it’s not as if some money is missing , all of it has disappeared
You may know the song, ‘The Longford Weaver’, also known, if my memory is right, as ‘Nancy Whiskey’. I had a vague memory of something like it, and thought it might be called ‘The Irvine Weaver’, which set my mind in motion (since Dreghorn is right close by Irvine). The following is the result (and for those who don’t like this kind of thing, just scroll by). The original Irish song which inspired this – though what ended up below diverts from it, while still referring back to it – can easily be found by googling it, with different singers singing it.
Irvine weavers aince were famous. An’ whit aboot Dreghorn?
As I went googlin’ tae fun’ oot, I hit upon a song
Aboot … a Longford man, wha’ wis a weaver braw
But fell in love wi’ Nancy Whiskey, wha’ stole his min’ awa’.
She span his heid a tangled web till it was spinnin’ roon’
An’ up the stairs tae bed she ta’en him; on it she dumped him
doon.
He snored an’ slept an’ dreamed the dream, an’ thocht wi’ her
he’d got it!
But when he woke she wisnae there, an’ empty wis his pocket.
So doon the stair he sadly stumbled, an’ she was there tae greet
him
She never blinked a sin’le lid, and tel’t him he’d been
cheatin’!
‘Six hunner thoosan’ quid you owe, for a’ ye drank yestreen,
An’ also for the fact ’twas me that led ye in yer dream!
I gie’d ye sic a bonny time, ma whiskey flowed like choicest
wine,
But noo, in licht o’ day, ye’ll ha’e tae pay. An’ a’ ye’ll ever
ha’e – is mine!
‘So, back to work for you, my boy; you’d better get a-weavin’:
You’re just the kind I lo’e tae serve, tae subsidise ma
thievin.
An’ don’t complain. It’s no’ ma faut yer dream’s evaporated!
Ah kept ma heid while you lost yours: it’s YOU that’s
dissipated!’
The Longford weaver bit his tongue, he ken’t when he wis bait.
Accepted whit a fool he’d been, resigned himsel’ tae fate.
Whit could he dae but weave away the life he aince had hoped
for?
It’s guid tae dream, an’ yet, beware! Each dream has its
exploiter.
Sweet Nancy Whiskey wisnae sweet, an’ Longford man wis glaickit.
The moral o’ this simple sang: Beware o’ them that fake it!
Be not ta’en in by Nancy’s likes, wha’ steal yer dream awa’.
Keep a’ sic thieves within yer sights, an’ jail them wi’ the
law.
Which brings me back tae whit I asked: Wis there e’er a Dreghorn
Weaver?
An’ if there wis, whit is she like? An honest lass? Or Nancy-
class Deceiver?
Auld Ayr, an’ Ayrshire too, wis ken’t for bonnie lassies, honest
men.
Whit’s happened since is hard tae tell. Will we e’er see their
likes again?
So Mr. Google, tell me please, how to unweave what’s woven:
Let no one be deceived to cling and cleave to feet that
unnerneath are cloven.
For lies are lies! Aul’ Nick’s or Young Nic’s, or just her
Hubby’s tricks Eventually unravel – like all stitch-ups, end up unstitched.
False accounting is criminal, by anyone at all:
Justice is equal, for men an’ women all.
An’ genderless – without fear or giving favours
To perverters of its course, or any inter-weavers.
Drain oot the Dregs then, blow freedom’s Horn:
Let aul’ Scotia, aince mair be re-born.
Caledonia, or Alba – whatever the name,
Noble is Freedom, an’ ever the same.
Scotland, arise! Be free and unmurrelled:
Raise Freedom’s Standard; let it be unfurled.
You know, guys here like Hatuey and McHaggis (just to go back on this forum briefly) are really living up to the negative coverage this place gets.
There needs to be room for debate, for differing opinions, for people being able to speak out and say “no, that’s not correct” otherwise what’s the point? What’s the point in having a post on a certain subject and then 40 or 50 people just saying “oh yes Stu of course that’s completely correct”??? There is no point.
From what I can read on here, those Belfox posts do nothing but question what we just read. Clearly the phrase “shit stirring” wound some people up, but it’s a valid point. There are no facts in that posts beyond the introduction … crudely put perhaps, but still valid.
A little bit of tolerance on here would go a long way to furthering the points that are made.
Just my opinion.
Robert Graham says:
3 April, 2021 at 12:34 am
Please note Mr Beflox I haven’t insulted you I haven’t mentioned anything about the replies you might have received regarding your post asserting Stuart Campbell is stirring it , how does questioning the whereabouts f a substantial amount of money that requires a simple answer and the fact people who have been in position that could probably provide the answer have resigned dose that give some cause for concern ? , it’s not as if some money is missing , all of it has disappeared
Thank you for that Robert. I was aware you hadn’t said anything insulting. Some others had, and it’s quite frustrating.
My point was not about the questioning of missing money, it was simply that, by the writer’s own admission, there were not facts there. It wasn’t a news story. To me, it just winds people up. That’s all. And I don’t think that’s really what we need right now.
Small correction to previous post:
Instead of:
For lies are lies! Aul’ Nick’s or Young Nic’s, or just her
Hubby’s tricks Eventually unravel – like all stitch-ups, end up unstitched.
Read:
For lies are lies! Aul’ Nick’s or Young Nic’s, or just her
Hubby’s tricks
Eventually unravel. … Like all stitch-ups, end up unstitched.
Al – from your link:
The SNP won 35 of the 59 seats in Scotland in last week’s general election – 21 fewer than in 2015.
The party’s share of the vote also fell from 50% to 37% as the Scottish Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats picked up seats across the country.
Ms Sturgeon has said that her party’s plans for a second referendum were “undoubtedly” a factor in the election result.
People change votes, or don’t vote, for all sorts of reasons, and Westminster elections are complicated by UK issues. But given that 45% of the electorate voted Yes in 2014, and the main selling point of the SNP has always been Scottish independence, it seems odd to me that Nicola was partially blaming Indyref2 for the party’s vote share declining 13% between 2015-2017.
Also odd was what she didn’t say. In 2015 both the Tories and Labour were committed to staying in the EU (same as the SNP). But by 2017 both Labour and the Tories were promising to implement Brexit, while the SNP promised to block it.
Yes, the democratic will of Scotland, torn out of the loving bosom of the acquis communautaire by little England, Nigel Farage is a banker, etc. But look at how Scotland voted in the first democratic event after the 2016 referendum:
SNP (Brexitkraft Nein Danke) vote drops 13%, Labour (Brexit Actually) vote goes up 2.8%, Tory (Brexit means Brexit) vote goes up 13.7% (!)
So, eh, I wonder how much of a factor Brexit played in this. Maybe not the dominant factor, but seems unlikely it didn’t factor. The 1m Scots who voted Leave haven’t gone away, you know. Scottish politics and media just talk as if we never existed. The 38% of the electorate nobody seems to care to pander to (maybe if we wore pretty floral dresses?)
Suggestion: might it be worth the Independence movement in general not stridently hitching its star to the 12 ones on the cerulean flag? It’s by no means the overwhelmingly popular proposition SNP rhetoric would have us believe.
Kenny McAskill is talking up EFTA, instead of full blown EU. That seems like a sensible, middle of the road kind of approach that might be enough to not alienate Leavers or Remainers, while we focus on getting our country back.
Remember when Scottish politics was about reasonably sensible arguments between adults? Feels comfy, like watching an old episode of Scotch & Wry with the coal fire on and a fly wee dram.
Oh can’t read this obvious click bait shite from the resident tag team
Aye that’s you debruce and her partner Beflox
Seen the same shite from previous interlopers
Finally fuck off
That clear enough ?
Robert Graham
Make your mind up.
“ To me, it just winds people up. That’s all. And I don’t think that’s really what we need right now.”
The only person here that seems to be wound up is you, beflox.
You don’t seem to be challenging the veracity of the story, though, which is odd. I guess you’d simply rather it wasn’t discussed and that people were kept in the dark.
Got it.
Emma Roddick is number one in the H&I list for the SNP on a disability ticket due to her borderline personality disorder,
Emma Harper is first on the list for SNP claiming her disability is diabetes.
Josn Mennie is seventh in Aberdeenshire list despite the fact that the poor soul suffers from Tourettes , is there no justice in the World.
But its a Bame candidate that gets to number one in Aberdeenshire, and lol and behold the Bame canditate is as woke as it gets, think she was in that photo of several of them at Aberdeen Conference yesterday.
Do the SNP members who are abusing Alba members/supporters on twitter not realise that as well as being good for Indy Alba winning on the list will save the SNP from ridicule If the general public get to here of the nonentities that are leading the SNP list.
link to twitter.com
Basically, we are all free to smash our children’s piggy banks and spend their ring fenced money on booze…
“What did you do with all my money, daddy?”
“It’s still there, kid, woven into my liver…”
de brus – “no evidence the SNP raised £600k in the first place”
Unfortunately the Wayback machine doesn’t record the running total on ref.scot.
According to the Herald and BBC reports, the number was £482k some days before the fundraiser was closed’
The donations drive was still running last Thursday, and by 6pm had raised £482,000, with 10 days of its 100-day operation left to go.
Screenshots on social media corroborate this.
I don’t know what the final figure was, but we’ve accounted for over 80% of that £600k figure having in fact been raised for a “ring fenced referendum fund”. Unless the SNP was for some reason fraudulently misrepresenting the number on their scot.ref website, which bore the following message:
Promoted by Peter Murrell on behalf of the Scottish National Party
The alternative is that the Herald, BBC, and social media users were lying, in which case:
* Why doesn’t the SNP clarify how much money was raised, and explain where that money is?
Most people are honest. They’d go out of their way to avoid even the appearance of financial impropriety, because being suspected of financial dishonesty is a terrible thing. Why isn’t the SNP doing that?
Hatuey
I spelled out my issue with it. Do you read comments or just jump to write what you think is some kind of meaningful put-down as fast as you can? It’s all there, my issue with the post.
How about you try to argue against the fact that everything he says after the third paragraph could just be made up. I’m not saying it is made up, just that it could be. It contains no facts. But by posting it it winds people up, and there is no real justification for it.
If tomorrow he has facts then great, share them. But as it stands it’s not a news story.
Is that now clear enough for you?
” It contains no facts. But by posting it it winds people up, and there is no real justification for it.”
It is a fact that over 600k was raised through donations and it is a fact that the SNP said the money would be “ring fenced”.
It is a fact that it hasn’t been ring fenced. Indeed, as I understand it, the SNP admitted as much when it suggested the money was “woven” into the accounts and could be raised when needed.
You’re not worried about people here feeling wound up. You’re worried about people elsewhere feeling let down.
re Wull.
I now it as Nancy Whisky. Well the Corries version of it of course. Oh the Whisky will ruin me.
SNP 1 Alba list works
SNP do not go into coalition with Alba
SNP do not do anything to move Indie forward
Alba thwart all the SNP lunacy
The danger is we still have a doomed and failed SNP in gov all be it a minority one and all this term of gov does kick the can down the rd until Alba can mount a full opposition mean while the Scottish people have been poorly served by its gov for 5 years and end up sick of the whole thing
Alternative is that the SNP are in dire legal trouble and the uk gov closes Holyrood
I,m not really sharing everyone up beat mood at the moment
Belfox
From the article by the rev
“However, we believe our source to be a reliable one”
Not sure what you count as a paragraph, but the above statement comes well down the article
We are accustomed to questioning stuff because the Rev has over many years taught us to do that.His stuff usually comes with links to back his material but at this point early on he says he does not have all the facts, so maybe we are just speculating but some facts are incontrovertible.
The SNP told the public that the monies were woven into their finances while at the same time ringfenced (questions. Aren’t those contradictory positions? Also does that mean there is no interest accruing on said ring fenced monies?)
The recently new head of the finance committee has not responded to the Revs email with regards to where the ring fenced money is itemized.
Members of the finance committee have resigned
Mr Murrell has taken possession of the financial records, Normal or unusual?
The Revs article indicates that if his source is correct that the Police are now involved as complaints have been made
Is that so unlikely?
What are you so fired up about?
Thanks for your responses Al Stuart and Meg Merrilees , I was aware that the appeals put out were indicating that if you were interested in donating you didn’t have to be a member , as I posted Beattie’s email was indicative of the stupidity endemic throughout the SNP , it was also condescending and dismissive which they have honed to perfection
Meg I have checked back on all my bank statements and believe you me if I could produce proof of any donation nothing would give me greater pleasure than making Beattie eat humble pie
But IMO people like beflox are more interested in avoiding the reality of corruption if ignoring it makes independence closer , but unfortunately the corruption has obviously been utilised for other more pressing issues
@2.41am
No matter how bad things could get at Holyrood the UK gov would never “close” anything. Why should it? Holyrood would be left to fester as warning. This is not Stormont, nobody is going to be dragged through the streets if the Lib-dems fall out with the Greens.
Richard Hunter says:
2 April, 2021 at 7:40 pm
Ok…
What you’ve just described is corruption, you eejit.
Anybody else find both Sturgeon and Salmond undignified and embarrassing and deranged now, egos gone totally adrift, Punch and Judy idiocy, and think they should both step away from politics for the good of the country? I mean, I know it won’t happen, but it’s a pleasant enough thought, cos all this he-said-she-said madness now is just tragic and disgusting and depressing.
Maybe the SNP could get one of their new, utterly inexperienced foreign-born ‘politicians’ they’re flouting on the basis of skin colour versus ability to run what’s left of the Scottish independence show into the ground, finish it all off permanently. Cos from where I am looking right now, this shit is long overdue a mercy killing.
link to youtube.com
Al says:
2 April, 2021 at 11:42 pm
Who knows what the fuck is going on ?
link to ft.com
Sturgeon makes as much se
Here is the Archive version. The other doesn’t open up
link to archive.vn
.
Good morning Twatthater,
Thankyou for saying Thankyou.
Meanwhile Twatthater, good luck with wiping off the latest rectal troll klingon stalkers you seem to have acquired. The ones with those imaginative monikers of BritishEmpireFlox and his sidekick De BritNat.
Stuart must have a helluva Jobbie keeping these amateur Trolls off of his Wings website.
No matter how they write and rant.
No matter that their words are pants.
Soon the Dreghorn Dirker’s little army of trolls
Will fluck off to their kennels and under-bridge hovels.
And leave the grown-ups to repair
The mess from their Unionist Plants of despair.
Twatters, it’ll soon be time to watch the best First Minister Scotland ever had as he returns to Holyrood to grill the worst First Minister Scotland ever had.
The Dreghorn Dirker will soon be on the backbench seats, or even out of Holyrood altogether. As her grasp on the levers of power slips to zero, all the liars, gerrymanders and thieves that abusive power used to protect will be overdosing on Imodium waiting for that knock on the door.
The Proceeds of Crime Act may mean some folk need to return to their summer job stacking shelves at a well known Dreghorn supermarket.
Aye, stuff the Ghana Tourist Authority; come tae shitey Dreghorn instead, where class is nothing more than the shine in yer ass…
link to archive.is
wull says:
3 April, 2021 at 12:35 am
You may know the song, ‘The Longford Weaver’,
Brilliant! 🙂
Onlooker 05.53
When were Salmond and Sturgeon anything other than deranged and undignified?
Given the billions the SNP Government received in Covid relief funding but are now spending on election bribes, this paltry £600,000 is pretty small beer compared to run of the mill SNP corruption – surely?
Anybody see the Courier of 1April? The SNP (Official) had taken out a full-page advert showing a photo mock-up of the Prime Minister in a kilt outfit, exhorting Scots not to get fooled because he’s specifically targeting them in order to disadvantage them – sort of stirring up hatred, but that’s the good kind, obviously.
However, what do we read a few pages on in the same paper? Why, two local SNP branches having to hand back £20,000 in small business grants because, as disingenuously explained by their spokesman, they didn’t realise that it was for small businesses, in the sense that everyone else understands. And where were these SNP branches? Arbroath! Well, I do declare…
Sunday Times poll out tomorrow. Rumoured to show something different for Alba. We wait with interest.
Skip NC @ 6.05pm
Every giant scam of the last fifty years – Enron, BCCI, Bernie Madoff etc. – had independent auditors, generally from the big four.
The entire audit system is a con. The client pays the auditor who has no interest in shutting down their client.
Nicol Surgeon at around 28 years of age left her job under a cloud post an investigation into complaints about her malfeasance as a solicitor.
Hidden, or indeed suppressed from public view, this early incident maybe reveals much of the true character of Nicola Sturgeon, and explains much about the recent past in relation to her behaviours and conduct into the attempts to destroy Alex Salmond and indeed many others.
This is a woman with a history, and a not very pleasant history on than that it seems. Vicious poisonously all around, it seems, the stamp of her character was actually marked out a long time ago.
Or is she a saint, our sainted Queen?
Skip_nc at 6:05 on 2nd
Using figures from the electoral commision and Adding total assets and removing total liabilities gives these figures.
AccountingUnitName DeeDubya value
Central Party £271,916.00
SNP Westminster Parliament Group £216,872.00
Moray Constituency £78,295.00
North East Fife Constituency £0.00
Clydebank £6,344.86
total £573,427.86
Is it possible that some of the assets might be readily saleable? A total expenditure of £7M might give a lot of room for wriggling and wiggling and dare I say weaving.
None the less it does seem unsurprisingly smelly.
If the money is ring-fenced then it should still be where it was originally put.
In addition the money should be able to be traced in that ring-fenced state from the time it was deposited until the present time.
The money should remain there until it is spent on that for which it was donated.
If this cannot be established then those responsible for the accounts have serious questions to answer.
Some of my friends got pardons for wrongful arrest and sacking during the miners strike, last year. The strike was in 1984.
I think people need to be less naive about how long it takes for a wrong to be righted. Usually until the people who did the wrong are safely retired or dead.
The chances of Sturgeon facing the rap for her offences are very slight as she has controls of the levers of power.
DeeDubya @8.51, seems unlikely that they would be readily realisable, specially at the moment with things as they are. Perhaps the next question should be how do those figures compare with the pre funding appeal numbers?
Wulls says:
“But I’m fucked if I know how it is possible to “weave” £600k through £272k without anyone noticing.
Maybe it’s schrodingers money.
It both exists and doesn’t exist at the same time.”
That’s the most plausible explanation I’ve seen so far. I wonder why the Murrels haven’t tried it out for size.
Dan Fyffe at 9.07am
That’s not true, and fine ye ken it. You don’t get pardoned for “wrongful arrest”. Do you actually even know what that is? Nor have pardons related to the 1984-5 miners’ strikes (not strike) been granted, let alone last year. The consultation on these so-called pardons has only just started in the last few days.
This gesture politics by the SNP is yet another cynical ploy to garner votes and is in all likelihood, outwith their remit, like the fatuously named “Indyref2”. But they don’t let that stop them, do they?
I think we can safely discount anything you have ever posted, or ever will post again on here as just so much falsehood.
Red says:
de brus – “no evidence the SNP raised £600k in the first place”
“Unfortunately the Wayback machine doesn’t record the running total on ref.scot.”
“According to the Herald and BBC reports, the number was £482k some days before the fundraiser was closed’”
Despite being reported by much of the mainstream media at the time, the only source for all of this is one article in the Herald. When you read the article it is clear that the fundraising link has already been removed, and it states that it now shows an “error message” (i think there’s some irony in that)
Interestingly, The Herald never actually claims to have seen the supposed figure of £482K on the site’s page itself- and it certainly hasn’t provided a screenshot of it either.
I’m not even aware that there was a ‘running total’ – this wasn’t a traditional crowdfunding page remember.
The only way The Herald could have come up with that figure is by contacting the SNP directly.
When they’ve been asked, it’s certainly possible they’ve then exaggerated the amount to save face.
Simple.
I’m with De Brus, it’s likely around £90k or similar. When you look at their ongoing crowdfunding campaigns right now – it’s all single figures – why would this be any different?
The whole SNP philosophy right now appears to be ‘lie, and worry about the consequences later’ – which, incredibly, continues to work for them.
They pulled it with 10 days to go – knowing that they’d have to publicly declare the paltry full amount if they let it run full term.
Someone earlier on this thread declared that people have screenshots of the total amount – that’s just supposition as no one yet has actually provided a shred of evidence of what was actually raised.
Please come forward if you have.
On 13th March 2017 I donated £200 to the Indy Ref fund – I want to know what has happened to this money. How do I get it back given it has not been used for the explicit purpose it was intended – I feel defrauded
shiregirl at 5:57 pm
I didn’t get an email informing me of this new post. This hasn’t happened before..
Nope, me neither. Also didn’t receive emails for ‘Why women want Alba’ and ‘To the National Secretary’ – thought it was just my emails playing-up?
Neither did I
Even if the Police report the missing £600K as a crime the next stage is the Crown Office for a decision on prosecution. So where does SNP1 get you, an SNP Crown Office and Justice Minister, result no prosecution by Crown Office.
To the people who sent money to the Scottish Nitwit Party, if it has not been used for the purpose you sent if for, then you are entitled to have it returned to you.
So keep asking for it back, write to your unionist MP in london and demand his help in getting your money back, even if its just a £1
Keep calling the police and demanding they take action, and say if they don’t take action you will go to the MSM and report to them, that the police keep ignoring your complaint of what you believe is a large scale fraud by the leaders of the SNP
To those who think there is no proof of the amount of monies.:
28th October 2020
SNP try to ‘quash rumours’ independence fighting fund has already been spent
They said they had the money back in October and didn’t deny the figure then so I think it would be difficult for them to alter things now as that figure has been quoted time after time and they have officially responded.
John McNab
Actually I don’t know very much about the legalities at all. All I know is that some people had their lives ruined, and last year there was talk on the media of their names finally bring cleared.
That’s the real point. People shouldn’t be expecting justice to be done any time soon.
@beaker, my friend, who is a business woman, said she has to repay the Covid grant.
She took it to keep her business ticking over but said she would make no profit in the next financial year after opening because of it.
If I was a carpenter, and you where a lady,
would you marry me anyway, would you have my baby.
And if I was to wear a dress, and call myself Maisie,
Would you be upset, and think that I was crazy.
Well I think you should know my dear, before we get wed,
That I like to wear pink knickers when I go to bed,
And if you should change your mind, as you seem so savvy,
could I have your old pink dress, for the woman’s lavvy
beflox says:
“Shit Stirring would have been a better name for this post.”
Judging by the number of your posts pointing out that view (or a variant), it seems to have stirred you.
John McNab
link to theguardian.com
1984 was a lifetime away.
Dan Fyffe’s Guardian link archived
link to archive.is
. Any money donated by members still belongs to members surely and accounts should be transparent? Who has the right to refuse any member access, more importantly, why would they?
Nicola has almost become god like to many people in Scotland. A real plan is need for independence economic and where Scotland’s place in the world would fit. Many friends have drifted from SNP over the past few months. The freebees that have been getting dished out have caused major concern to them and me. Recent enquiries etc have added to that concern Nicola has become teflon nothing sticks. Scotland could become a great independent country but needs to stop the hate that is within if you don’t vote SNP leave Scotland that kind of thinking alienates many possible supporters. 50% of Scotland don’t vote SNP approximately. Embrace people to independence don’t threaten. I myself won’t vote for the first time in 45 years. It’s a Nicola and croonies dictator ship a old saying you get more with a carrot than a stick. Many people feel intimidated with SNP constant hate the English etc my family is made up with English Scottish and Australian. I’ll probable get told to f…k off but used to it. A independent Scotland needs a plan stop the hate and false promises.
Keith7 & shiregirl
I NEVER receive notifications of new posts!?
A few weeks ago Peter Murrell refused to give members of the party’s Finance and Audit Committee access to the party accounts-resulting in the resignation of three of them.
If they’ve nothing to hide – which they shouldn’t have, then why the secrecy?
My guess is they’re buying time, and they’ll handle the consequences after May 6th.
At some point the books will be opened- but they’ll faff their way through that like everything else and obfuscation and lies will, very soon, just be a normalised part of Scottish politics.
de brus says:
I think we have established that there is no proof that the SNP even raised 600k in the first place, which then suggests that the idea there is an ongoing police investigation into this is just ridiculous.
Eh?
Even if one person gave £50 because they were assured that their donation would be ringfenced and only used to fight an independence referendum, and that money was then used for another reason, then surely you agree that there needs to be an investigation and the public need to see the results of that investigation, otherwise we, the public will never again be able to have confidence in our public bodies.
In fact, this is a test case for us all to see the type of society we currently live in, and if the Murrels are able to ask members of the public for money for one thing then spend it on another without any pulic accountability, then as a society, we are all agreeing that the ‘powers that be’ have every right to treat us in any way they please without any prospect of being held accountable for their actions.
Even if you are still 100% behind the Murrels, if you allow this kind of stuff to continue without holding them accountable, you will have no complaint when the Tories/Labour do it as well.
If you want any kind of scrutiny of politicians, you must agree that they all get held to account, not just the ones you don’t like.
Hi Sylvia.
You have to click the wee box – “Notify me of new posts by email.” – below the “Submit Comment” button or below your comment preview, if you have typed anything in the comment box.
The system has been playing up the past month or so, though.
Alec Massie Sunday Times columnist on Radio Scotland this morning “ I wouldn’t trust one poll commissioned by The Courier there is a new poll coming out tomorrow in the Sunday Times which might show something different”!
Can people that have a donor receipt or confirmation of their donation group together into a class action? Strength in numbers and all that.
ps: as a few others have said, I’m also no longer getting email notifications of new Wings articles.
Fred – Someone earlier on this thread declared that people have screenshots of the total amount – that’s just supposition as no one yet has actually provided a shred of evidence of what was actually raised.
Please come forward if you have.
link to mobile.twitter.com
Dan Fyffe: You quite clearly stated that your friends had received pardons; that the deed had been done. That is not true. The Guardian article you cite in an attempt to bolster your claim (seriously?) merely refers to an expressed intent to do so. There is a consultation ongoing now by the Scottish Govt. into the sole recommendation from John Scott’s report, namely to grant pardons to all convicted as a result of their actions during the miners’ strike within Scotland. No convictions have been overturned, no investigation into the policing procedures or those of the prosecution or judicial proceedings has been suggested. None of these had, at that time, been compromised or debauched by the current governance within Holyrood.
Remember, this was supposed to be an examination into the impact of policing in Scotland during the strike. No acknowledgement that it took place outwith the constitutional framework of the NUM, or even a passing acknowledgement that the NUM were the first British trade Union to resort to murder in the furtherance of their aims.
Anyway, the pardons haven’t arrived, but, much like the nurses’ 4%, the £500 bung for key workers, the children’s laptops, and much of the SNP’s cynical vote harvesting largesse, I’ll not hold my breath. Who will these embittered old men who set this off address their inevitable compensation claims to?
FFS Stuart ! not during the most vital election campaign we ever had I understand and share a lot of your concerns but get fucking grip Min this is one issue that CAN wait till after the vote !!
Wow, just Wow.
Stuart. You’ve done the legwork and the investigating.
Turn this all into a script for Netflix and you’ll be minted. Just a thought.
‘The money was only resting in my account.’
Important that this information comes into the public domain and not buried under the ‘SNP debts to Police Scotland’ folder, do not care who reveals it.
“I wouldn’t trust one poll commissioned by The Courier”.
Who is the editor of “The Courier”?
Interesting.
Kudos to the complainant.
I don’t see how the police can turn a blind eye. They have a duty to investigate.
It’s well past time that Nicola Sturgeon had her collar felt.
Mugs will still vote for them though.
I seen the news with her coming out her house a couple of weeks ago and there’s an electric Jaguar in the driveway. starting price for the basic model is £65k.
Maybe nothing but shows that there’s money being splashed about.
@Craig Murray says:
3 April, 2021 at 8:33 am
Every giant scam of the last fifty years – Enron, BCCI, Bernie Madoff etc. – had independent auditors, generally from the big four.
“See Eyes passim ad nauseam”, as they say…
I’m definitely not giving the SNP another vote until Mr & Mrs M are out of the party. I see lots of people saying they’ll be holding their nose and voting for them. What’s the point in that. The party needs a shock in this election to refocus their minds. I’m done.
The Daily Express online are running this story now.
@Kingu The point is bad laws can be unmade; truth, along with custodial sentences will come through time; the SNP are the ONLY party that can get us a referendum; if SNP have a low turnout they will still get in with minority government; few constituency votes means more list MSPs – at the cost of Albas.
I could think of lots more reasons to vote SNP. None of which have anything to do with their past performance or future policies; those are dire.
.
Sunnybank,
If you are referring to the head title of this article: “Justice Stirring” and you rudely write that Staurt Campbell “should get a fucking grip man”, you FAIL to understand what is going on here.
Sunnybank you are utterly and totally wrong.
Justice IS EVERYTHING. If politicians, civil servants, law officers, the Clown Office and Police Scotland officers act with contempt for the law, then Scotland is UNFIT and UNSAFE to become independent.
If in doubt, just go and ask Alex Salmond about being maliciously prosecuted. You should have seen the administrative receivers of Rangers get their (taxpayer funded) compensation when the current incompetent, overpromoted ‘erse that heads the Clown Office was dragged kicking and whimpering to do his duty.
Alex has every right to take similar action against the head of the Clown Office.
There will be widespread support for new legislation increasing powers to PERSONALLY SURCHARGE THE ASSETS of those high ranking miscreants who (i) break the law; (ii) pervert the course of justice: (iii) neglect their duty and: (iv) commit malfeasance whilst in public office.
Unfortunately, the old police governance legislation that worked so well for many years has been replaced by BADLY written legally dubious new legislation governing police conduct compiled by some overpaid Amadan.
Seriously, just look at the absence of verbs in this legal document…
link to legislation.gov.uk
If you find the old and new police governance acts difficult to follow, there is an easier way to understand what IS NOW HAPPENING AT BARRHEAD POLICE STATION…
I can assure you that there is more than a grain of truth to the television series “Line of Duty” written by Dr Jed Mercurio and starting Adrian Dunbar, Vicky McClure and our very own Indy supporting hero, Martin Compston.
Bugger Sturgeon’s fangirl fawning over the lead actress in the Danish political television series Borgen. She and others who need to understand the legal mechanics of what is now happening would be wise to get onto eBay and buy all five box sets of “Line of Duty”.
When serving in Strathclyde Police, our version of the fictional AC12 were known as the RUBBER HEAL SQUAD. You did your job properly back then. You stayed honest. Failure so to do and you ended up in HMP Barlinnie prison. Bent cops in jail do not get a good time.
Sunnybank, at this time, THE LAW IS EVERYTHING.
Stuart Campbell is SPOT ON.
Stuart is right, you are wrong.
I suspect that before we can bring the miscreants in this contemptible gerrymandering of Scots Law to justice, we REQUIRE to get the little greedy grasping paws of Nicola Sturgeon off of the powers of control.
ENOUGH of the corruption of the three institutions of Scotland by leadership so unfit for purpose.
Alex Salmond was focused beyond any doubt on this triumvirate in his speech before the Strurgeon apologist Linda Fabiani.
In Scotland we can play the bagpipes and read music, and march at the same time. That analogy means we are capable of holding to account and inquiry: Iain Livingstone at Police Scotland plus Peter Murrell, SNP CEO/Nicola Sturgeon ScotGov boss and also James Wolffe Law officer. All require to be fully investigated by those with the power to interview them under caution and bring ALL alleged misdeeds to account.
So often, all it takes is a carefully worded missive delivered by a very ordinary looking individual walking into their local police station to make a formal complaint.
If they are WISE AND CIRCUMSPECT, Bi Glic, Bi Glic, a receipt and signature for that statement and complaint is obtained in exchange for that written document delivered to the officers Barrhead Police station.
Thereafter ALL who come in contact with a carefully worded complaint MUST handle it in strict, honest terms of professional standards and flowing from that, THE LAW. . Any interference with that process carries career-ending and liberty-terminating (custodial) ramifications.
Failure to treat a well written complaint of the type currently sitting on the Divisional Commander’s desk and you start to see law officers (police and under different legislation, solicitors and COPFS) being arrested/detained/interviewed under caution.
I strongly suspect Peter Murrell was interviewed in his home UNDER POLICE CAUTION by a Police Scotland Officer holding the rank of Chief Superintendent the night before a very tired and troubled looking Nicola Sturgeon appeared before the “leaders debate”.
For those who felt Scotland was descending into a banana republic I can confirm that there are still sufficient men and women of implacable honour and integrity who despise bent cops and corrupt Clown Office staffers.
The tide is turning. Slowly but surely. Scots voters, the ones who have NOT been following the Sturgeon McWokeist cabal of corruption and gerrymandering are about to get an object lesson on how difficult it will be to vote…
SNP1
Alba2
My stomach churns at giving the crooked Sturgeon McWokers my first vote. But for the LIST system to deliver 20 x Alba MSPs and sack 20 x Unionist MSPs we need the SNP constituency vote to hold up. After 6th May 2021 and with 20 Alba MSPs in Hoyrood, the corrupt members of the SNP will be given their jotters and/or the jail.
Whilst the old and/or honest but naive SNP members will get their party back.
———————–
Source material…
link to legislation.gov.uk
Al Stuart at 6.03pm
Rubber HEELS. Not “heals’.
SNP are effectively a company (not a charity), liable for tax etc.
I will also have to resubscribe as not getting emails of new Wings posts.
,
Thanks John,
You are, or course, correct. It should be spelt “rubber heels”. It has been a long day at work.
Though any cop who was a guest at Pitt Street in Glasgow, may well have wished their erstwhile hosts were in the “healing” business and not just heels. But alas that department was the career equivalent of an electrical diode: one direction only.
John, in mitigation, I have offered to sponsor the WordPress internet widget Stuart needs so we can edit our BTL comments after the “submit” button has been pressed. £250 should more than cover the website plugin. It means we can remedy the errors that are spotted once the BTL comment has been posted.
I’d even be happy to add an extra £50 for Stuart’s nuts.
I know how he likes to feed the wee furry things on those daylight walks where e Rev enjoys sanctuary with wee red squirrels who have forgotten where they hid their nuts.
We all need to clear our heads of much detritus currently polluting Scottish political pavlovas.
The Spectator is running the line that Salmond has set up the Alba Party in order to make Nicola Sturgeon devise a proper plan for independence. Is this true?
At Last!
As a Brit I have been waiting for signs among ‘Indyref2’ supporters of the recognition that civilisation has broken down in Holyrood,and the next election could confirm a totalitarian regime. Independence will happen when Scotland reaches judicial,political,social and economic standards of maturity at least equal to that of the neighbours (e.g. Wales), but not before. Civil Society must come first.
Al-Stuart puts his finger right on the problem when he says:
“Justice IS EVERYTHING. If politicians, civil servants, law officers, the Clown Office and Police Scotland officers act with contempt for the law, then Scotland is UNFIT and UNSAFE to become independent. ”
Fiddling around with clever voting wheezes will not produce sufficient power to reform Scotland’s Justice system as the first step towards Independence. One must remember that the SNP mutated into the current monster with the aid of the current system, and could just as easily do it again after the next election.
An ideology of “Independence now, at all costs” includes some very steep hidden bills, as we see.
AS has at least raised the very serious issues which must be considered and answered before Scotland can consider independence. Another surfaced today of which I was previously unaware: mortgages must be repaid in Sterling. So the currency question must be foremost among these issues.
Handbags. They’ll be the end of the road for Scottish independence.
Alba on 3% of the polling.
It’s all a mess. I’d give up now if I were a sensible Scot. And there are a lot of those, more than the independence fanatics think.
@Saffron Robe 3 April, 2021 at 1:52 pm
“Kudos to the complainant.
I don’t see how the police can turn a blind eye. They have a duty to investigate.
It’s well past time that Nicola Sturgeon had her collar felt”
I wish someone with inside knowledge would go to the cops about the £300 million splurged away on two island ferries, accusations of corruption from multiple Ferguson Senior Management yet closed down by SNP committee with a “nothing to see here” wonder if the LA was involved in the legal gagging of senior managers at Ferguson too ?
Craig Murray at 8:33am, Well, Enron was just one of Arthur Andersen’s many failures that, frankly, bordered on criminal.
Granted, KPMG, as a professional firm, should have done a better job with BCCI. It took them four audits to formally realize something was wrong. By then, it was too late. I worked in Birmingham at the time and walked past the BCCI branch most days. On my way up the hill one day, everything was fine. On my way back to the office, there was a handwritten sign on the door which, to the initiated, indicated BCCI’s demise. I reported it to my manager and there was brief panic as we checked client files to see who may have been exposed.
As for Bernie Madoff, that auditor was not independent. It was him, a receptionist and a part-time accountant. That was a serious regulatory failure. The SEC and the New York State Board of CPA Examiners should have been speaking to one another. Had they done so, a peer review could have been extended to explore independence issues.
As it happens, I think we have good rules here in the USA to mitigate non-independence issues. There are rules about auditing firms doing audits where an employee of the client is related to someone on the audit team. For myself, I have to watch the fees I collect from my largest client, compared to the rest of my client base. It won’t stop me doing the work but I would have to mention my non-independence on the Report if it ever comes to it.
The USA has also required auditing firms to not take on consulting or non-audit compliance work for their audit clients. There is more work to be done in that area, to be fair. I am not sure what restrictions there are in the rest of the world.
In addition to the previous paragraph, I have long believed that companies should be required to change auditors every 5-7 years. However, that requires regulation. Nobody is going to give that up voluntarily.
To sum up, although the auditor-client relationship is often too cosy for my liking, governments need to get serious on regulation. It is one thing to write broad international standards on how financial information should be presented. Writing rules on what may broadly be described as “Ethics” is a more difficult task that, ultimately, must be carried out by governments. it will be a brave country that starts that ball rolling.
Gone right handed says ‘sensible Scots should forget independence’.
I’d say recent revelations about the dubious involvement of the Crown Office and Westminster civil servants in Scottish Governments business means its even more vital we get independence and get shot of them, pronto.
Looks like there’s a corps of the Sturgeonistas Youth Wing on tonight. What has to happen before the country wakens up and realises they are being conned by the elite of the SNP who are taking membership money and public donations spending it on inflated salaries and goodness knows what else. Disgusted with every episode which you know is always going to end up in a whitewash. Never thought this could happen in Scotland but who could have foretold a global pandemic a couple of years ago.
Willie says:
“Nicola Sturgeon at around 28 years of age left her job under a cloud post an investigation into complaints about her malfeasance as a solicitor”.
Someone’s written a blog on that story – three counts ‘of professional misconduct by breach of code of conduct and conduct unbecoming a solicitor’.
They were: failing to raise interdict, misleading client about legal aid application & failing to properly consider her financial circumstances
link to petercherbi.wordpress.com
That is interesting, I didn’t know about that. Poor Nicola, part of me thinks some things deserve the right to be forgotten from 1998. But then I continue to here her retrial Alex Salmond every day without rebuttal. Her refusal to accept the verdict, I think its only fair that her dirty laundry is aired!
.
Oh please give me strength.
People who are NOT Scots arrogantly assume they know a lot about Scotland from afar and can TELL Scots how they should vote. They appear to pop up on Wings like predictable whack-a-mole trolls.
We have another new-joiner quasi-troll on Wings feeling they have some skin in the game. These galoots venture their Tory opinion whilst eating a full English breakfast at their ex-pat Costa Del Sol pub in the Algarve.
The latest font of wisdom groans that we Scots should all give up as the Alba Party are only on 3%.
Oh RightHander, please do fuck off.
Go sort out your Brexit mess. Your type of advice is there for all to see. Boris Johnson has set Belfast alight and returning the six counties to Tory Ted Heath’s “Troubles”. Death, murder, intimidation and civil war upon the British Empire Colony of Northern Ireland. The republic of Eire folk are aghast. Right-Hand-Job, is it a good view of the “New Troubles” from your 1966 England Football Team themed gastro pub In Spain?
If I were the person from afar, then before arrogantly presuming to tell citizens of another country how to vote, perhaps educate yourself and avoid looking like an ignorant Amadan.
At the START of 2014 the (questionable) opinion polls had YES for Scottish Independence limping from late twenty percent to low thirty percent.
By 18th September 2014 Alex Salmond had been relentless in front of mocrophones, public meetings and on a largely hostile television circuit.
As a result of a LOT of campaigning in a SHORT period, Alex Salmond got YES up from 28% to 41% and I believe Wings Wee Blue Book added another 4% to that, totalling the NOW infamous 45% YES VOTE for Scottish Independence.
So close yet so far.
RightHandbagger-sandbagger, you are WRONG about Scots.
We do NOT give up.
The Alba Party has only just been born. It is the child of a battered parent who was dragged through a malicious prosecution by an incompetent Clown Office tainted by political bias. A Clown Office that just paid out millions of pounds in compensation because the dodgy over-promoted “solicitors” at the aforementioned ClownOffice fucked up the judicial system
None of those London civil servants seconded to run Colonial Scotland have yet accepted their responsibility for having to pay millions of pounds of taxpayer money to settle legal claims against CLOWN OFFICE MALICIOUS PROSECUTION of the Rangers administrators et al.
Nobody has resigned over that and it looks like the NEW Holyrood will have to pass RETROSPECTIVE SURCHARGE laws so that incompetent government employees on lucrative government salaries and pensions will have the proceeds of their incompetence repaid from their own money. In other words civil servants and Clown Office employees will be required to repay all salary plus punitive damages from their personal accounts into which those funds were first paid? That should make them do their job better.
The point in this BTL comment is that the Alba Party has just been started and born against a universally hostile Union press.
Give Alex Salmond and Kenny MacAskill plus the growing infrastructure at the Alba Party a few weeks and by the time 6th May 2021 dawns, Alba will be up to 11%. In LIST terms at is getting into the 10 x Alba MSP to 20 x Alba MSP territory.
If what some of us think will happen (dawn arrests of bent miscreants at the McWokeistan enclave) occurs, then all bets are off. For the overseas ex-pat right handed thicko Unionist troll, that means a pro-indy #supermajority with the Scots Alba Party taking 20 seats off of London based Tory/SLAB/LibDems will happen.
Then Alex Salmond and the new Alba Party can make sure the tired old SNP with new NON McWoke leadership installed is kept honest.
———————————————–
Gone Right Handed…
“Alba on 3% of the polling.
It’s all a mess. I’d give up now if I were a sensible Scot.”
It’s all over for Alba….no it isn’t. 6% and six seats! Now ahead of the Libs after 1 week.
No excuse not to have them on the tv debates. I personally think the Greens are polling to high at 8%. So if Alba can nudge up to 8% . Then we are in 8 seat plus territory.
One thing which always bothered me was the way Kate Forbes was welcomed in as Cabinet Secretary for Finance in 2016. She was 29 yrs old and in charge of a £43Bn budget
She was [Wiki] … trainee chartered accountant working for Barclays for two years….selected as candidate in 2015 from an all-woman shortlist… worked on gender pay gap in highlands… elected as MSP 2016…
On 6 February 2020, she became the first woman to deliver the Scottish Budget upon Derek Mackay’s resignation as Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work.
This was a really big deal apparently. Gushing articles talking about how “all the barriers are coming down”. Lots of readers sending messages “Go Kate! Go!” Nothing was asking her what she thought about economic policy.
She was replacing Derek MacKay’s resignation. Mar 2020?
He was allowed, apparently with SNP blessing, to resign on ill-health grounds, on 50K/ann… Mackay admitted “behaved foolishly” and apologised “unreservedly” to the individual involved and his family… Police Scotland carried out an investigation into the messages Mackay sent to the teenager and concluded no crime had been committed…
16 yrs old is a legal age. But it isn’t a good look. But it isn’t clear what he actually did. We have the number of messages 270, but not the content. Possibly to protect the privacy of the young man. But we actually don’t know.
Anything else? Yes. In June 2019, MacKay told MSPs the government had under-spent its budget by 500M, despite raising taxes at the same time.
MSN have named the complainer as Sean Clerkin.
No wonder you didn’t want to name him.
link to gov.scot
link to gov.scot
Here is the second Freedom of Information request, following my first post, on the 7 civil servants, I realised that I didn’t include it.
The Scottish Government cancelled all plans to publish a series of ‘New Scotland’ papers, to provide detail on how Scotland can make the transition from a Yes vote to becoming an independent country. During the Pandemic. No forward planning by Nicola Sturgeon.
Of course the money has gone.
After decades getting to the cusp of independence, this is what we’ve ended up with. The Murrell’s just want power, and the officials and MSP’s/MP’s are happy to be complicit in the Murrell’s con trick, or simply look the other way to hang onto their jobs.
Independence? With this lot?
The lot of them need to go. We were all warned about the Murrells a long time ago, and the answer was always “get independence, and sort it out later”. Does anyone really think we’ll be able to shift them after independence now?
I’m disgusted by it all. Things should never have got to this point, and now they’re almost unshiftable. If they fall, lots of them fall, so they’ll all stick it out due to mutually assured destruction.
I can’t see where we go from here. I’m shattered by it all. A Parliament full of spineless clapping seals. A media in the Murrells pocket. A legal system in their pocket.
Where’s the whistleblowers? Has anyone at the top got any moral compass at all? I’m just waiting for the next move to destroy AS. Because they will try. There’s no doubt about it.
It doesn’t matter who the complainer us, it matters where the money is. These rumours have been on the rounds since end of last year. When three auditors walk out because they cant get access to accounts to do their job, that’s serious. Its member’s money.
They do say silence is golden. And the Q folks say when all is quiet on the surface, it means big happenings behind the scenes. But those `happenings` could be anything and leaving the public in ignorance seems suspicious to me. I appreciate the need for certain international op’s to be top secret – you don’t want to alert the target. But this is just oor wee Scotland where, not so long ago, honesty, transparency and openness was our creed. Whatever has happened to our proud nation is an abomination and that’s all I have to say, apparently. :[
Stuart you are just being stupid and don’t understand…Father Ted assures us the money is “just resting in the account”, that’s all! 😉
Uh…did anyone check underneath the sofa cushions at party HQ?
If you asked the SNP spongers and all their hangers on drawing wages and expenses too to chip back in a tiny percentage what they’ve taken out of the pot over the years you’d have another £600000 quite easily, I bet. But I’m sure there’s people barely making ends meet on benefits or who’ve lost their jobs under covid restrictions and at risk of losing their homes they can just tap for money money for another fund! That’s what the public are for now, infinite money cow to milk. Money not spent on The Party is money badly spent, I guess.
anyone have the latest on this, or has the ring fence been whitewashed already…?
[…] 37. link to wingsoverscotland.com 38. link to twitter.com 39. […]