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LONDON — Colin Beattie, the Scottish National Party’s treasurer, has been arrested as the fallout continues from the police probe into the party’s finances.
In a statement released Tuesday morning, Police Scotland said a 71-year-old man was arrested “as a suspect in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National Party.” The man is Beattie, who has responsibility for the party’s accounts and represents Midlothian North and Musselburgh as a Scottish parliament lawmaker for the pro-independence SNP.
The force added: “The man is in custody and is being questioned by Police Scotland detectives.”
Beattie is the second person to be arrested in connection with the finances probe, which has been ongoing for almost two years.
The former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell was taken into custody earlier in April, after officers turned up at the house he shares with his wife, the former SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon.
Footage in the aftermath of that arrest showed several officers erecting a large tent in the garden of their Ayrshire home as they carried out a search of the property. Officers also entered and searched the party’s central office in Edinburgh.
Murrell was released without charge pending further investigation.
Police Scotland launched a formal investigation into the SNP’s finances in July 2021, after complaints were made about the party’s use of donations.
The probe has overshadowed the opening weeks of Humza Yousaf’s tenure as SNP leader. Yousaf replaced Sturgeon as leader in March, after a leadership contest triggered by her shock resignation the previous month.
Yousaf is due to lay out in a major speech his priorities as leader of Scotland’s devolved government later Tuesday.
