The Invisible Rabbit
Further to Monday’s letter from the Deputy Chief Constable, we’ve submitted the following Freedom Of Information request to Police Scotland.
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To: FOI <foi@scotland.police.uk>
15 July 2026
This week I received a letter from DCC Stuart Houston. It notes in part:
“During this time, Police Scotland utilised financial investigators, financial analysts and a forensic accountant to fully investigate the circumstances surrounding reported irregularities. Consideration was given to other crime types, such as, but not limited to, those listed in your letter.
These matters were also fully investigated, and all of the circumstances were reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service for advice and guidance.”
As Police Scotland announced that Operation Branchform was closed on 26 May 2026 and is no longer a live investigation requiring confidentiality, and as the matter is of such great public interest – involving as it does the extremely grave matters of public confidence in the Scottish Government and the integrity and independence of Police Scotland and COPFS when investigating potential crimes committed by members of that government – the information I request is therefore as follows:
(1) What advice and guidance was received from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service specifically regarding the initial complaint about the Scottish National Party’s suspected misappropriation of “ringfenced” fundraiser money (rather than the subsequent offence of embezzlement against the Party for which Peter Murrell was prosecuted and convicted)?
(2) On which date/s was this advice and guidance received?
(3) On which date (an approximate one, eg “August 2023” or “Spring 2022”, will suffice if a more precise one cannot be identified) did Police Scotland cease investigations into the original complaint of misappropriation of funds by the SNP (again as opposed to Peter Murrell’s subsequent embezzlement from the Party)?
(4) Did they do so on the grounds that (a) no crime was identified, or that (b) there had been a crime but the perpetrator/s could not be identified, or that (c) there had likely been a crime but evidence was insufficient for a prosecution, or for some other reason?
In the interests of transparency I can see no justifiable reason for these facts being withheld from the public.
The integrity of the government, police and prosecution service is not a matter of mere curiosity or prurience. It is vital to public faith in national institutions and I will pursue this matter with the Information Commissioner if necessary.
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We’ll be sending a similar one to the Crown Office, and our solicitor will also be writing to Police Scotland separately. We’ll continue to keep you posted.
Thank you for all your work on this important matter. I can’t believe that the mainstream media doesn’t seem to care.
Enigmatic headline. Was the, “invisible rabbit” pulled from a visible or invisible hat?