Top law officer told Swinney of Murrell charge nearly a year ago

First Minister John Swinney was given details of the criminal charge against former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell nearly a year ago, documents released by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) reveal.

The files show Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain first wrote to Swinney last March to inform him that Murrell had been charged with embezzling £460,000 from the SNP.

It had previously been thought the government was only told the sum last month.

Murrell is yet to make a plea on the embezzlement charge. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 25 May.

Bain's letter to the government was included in a list of nearly 30 cases which the lord advocate has updated either the Scottish or UK governments on over the past three decades.

They include updates on the Glasgow Airport terror attack, the death of Sheku Bayoh, the Lockerbie case and the investigations into the deaths of two inmates in Polmont Young Offenders Institute.

The Crown Office said the documents showed that the lord advocate – who has faced calls to resign over a memo she sent to Swinney about Murrell in January – had acted in line with her legal duties.

The lord advocate has a dual role as Scotland's chief prosecutor, as well as acting as the government's principal legal adviser, a role she performs as a cabinet minister.

She was criticised by Tory and Labour MSPs in the Scottish Parliament last week after she was called to explain an email she sent to Swinney on 19 January giving details of the charge against Murrell.

Her email was then passed on to senior civil servants and special advisers.

It was not until almost a month later, on 13 February, that the indictment was reported in the media.

The documents released by the COPFS show that Swinney was first told about the £460,000 figure in March 2025.

Last week Bain told MSPs she had written the January memo to inform Swinney about a major development in the case, to remind ministers not to comment on live proceedings and to reiterate that she was not involved in the prosecution.

The COPFS has repeatedly said Bain is not involved in the Murrell case because it concerns politicians.

The lord advocate also denied having given the government political advantage.

Bain told parliament that she sent the memo because the indictment could become public at any point after it had been served to Murrell.

However, opposition MSPs noted that after the email had been sent, the COPFS had told journalists that details of the indictment could not be published until a preliminary hearing.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay claimed the email "smacks of corruption", while Labour chief Anas Sarwar said explanations offered by Swinney and Bain were "not credible".

The Conservatives have demanded that the lord advocate's dual role be scrapped, saying it poses a conflict of interest, while Labour have called for an investigation into whether Bain misled parliament.

Murrell, the estranged husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, stepped down as SNP chief executive in 2023 after more than two decades in the role.

He was charged with embezzlement in April 2024.

He is accused of embezzling £459,000 between August 2010 and January 2023 and of making illicit purchases of luxury goods, two cars and a motorhome using party funds.