Former Scotland Chief Minister Nicola Sturgeon arrested over probe into SNP finances

Former Scotland's chief minister Nicola Sturgeon has been arrested this Sunday in connection with the investigation into the finances of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in relation to its campaign for an independence referendum.

The finances of the SNP have been under suspicion in recent years, mainly due to complaints filed in 2021 and related to donations. Specifically, doubts have arisen regarding the funds that the party has received for a potential new campaign for said plebiscite.

Sturgeon, who at no time attributed his resignation at the end of March to these suspicions, after nine years in office, has always defended the transparency of the accounts and the funds raised for the hypothetical consultation -- about 667,000 pounds (about 761,000 euros to the current exchange rate) only between 2017 and 2020--.

The announcement of the arrest has been published by the Scottish National Police on its Twitter account in relation to a 52-year-old woman in reference to Sturgeon, whose identity has been verified by BBC Scotland.

The former chief minister is currently in custody and is being questioned by police detectives, the authorities added in their statement.

Her husband and former party chief executive, Peter Murrell, was arrested in April for allegedly lending the SNP money out of his own pocket - more than £107,000 in June 2021 - to clean up the finances after the last election, although the formation has stated that it has already returned what has been officially described as a "personal contribution". Murrell was released without charge within hours.

Nearly two weeks later, the formation's treasurer, Colin Beattie, who, like Murrell, was released without charge shortly after, was also arrested.