Tweet

Scotland Speaks

1 Mar, 9 tweets, 8 min read

@COPFS

💿#theMessages
"22 Jan 2020 at the preliminary hearing of the criminal case. We were presented with a #MemoryStick by @COPFS. The next day in the offices of @LevyandMcRae, we went through a series of messages. It was one of the most #extraordinary days of my life"

#SalmondSpeaks

🚨 #theConspiritors
"... because I'm not allowed to describe in any detail the #messages. Let's say I recognise the one you've just read out. And what they speak to behaviour which I would never have countenanced from people I've known in some cases for 30 years."

#SalmondSpeaks

"There has been behaviour which is about not just pressurising the Police (like the one you read out), pressurising witnesses, collusion with witnesses, we're talking about the construction of evidence b/c the police somehow were felt to be inadequate in finding it themselves.

@PeterMurrell

🔥"On the 25 Aug 2018 a Police investigation started. When a Police investigation starts, these matters are for the Police. They don't need assistance from Inspector @PeterMurrell, Sergeant @SueRuddick, Constable @IanMcCann or Special Constable Barbara Allison..."

#SalmondSpeaks

@ScotGov

🚨 "Whether people are in @ScotGov or @theSNP then they have no investigative function. It is a matter for the Police."

"They [shouldn't] be doing anything other than supporting the Police in their activities. They certainly shouldn't be seeking to "pressurise"."

#SalmondSpeaks

@theSNP

"In July [2020] – b/c rumours have been current in @theSNP for some time about such messages. @KennyMacAskill wrote to the @COPFS .. asking if there was any evidence of 'pressurising the Police by Mr @PeterMurrell.' He got a reply saying there is no such evidence"

#SalmondSpeaks

@KennyMacAskill

💬 "Subsequently @KennyMacAskill made the messages available to [the] committee. [They've since] been confirmed as being genuine."

"Similar to the committee's experience in the, 'lost the battle but not the war' text message form @PermSecScot to Barbara Allison."

#SalmondSpeaks

💬 "Similar in the sense that [existence was denied] then [once revealed], the messages then accepted as fact. There are a number of other messages in the public domain."

"There are many other messages which I am prohibited from sharing with this committee..."

#SalmondSpeaks

@theSNP

🛑 "When a Police investigation starts, all other activity should stop. It's not for @theSNP or the @ScotGov to supplant the Police in an investigative function; it is for everyone to accept that's the due process of law and it should be allowed to continue without impediment."

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @ScotlandSpeaks

Scotland Speaks

@ScotlandSpeaks

28 Feb

@MaureenSNP

🔥"@MaureenSNP, you say the present Lord Advocate is the former Dean of the Faculty [of Advocates]; the [@ScotGov] external Counsel is the present Dean of the Faculty. I'd have thought it of interest to hear what @RoddyQC & Christine O'Neil were saying in Oct 2018.
#SalmondSpeaks

@RoddyQC

📌"I don't think the Lord Advocate would have done very well if he'd been in the shoes of @RoddyQC and having to argue the case." .. "The Practitioner – the person who was actually having to argue the case in Court – probably recognised the essential difficulties"

#SalmondSpeaks

@MaureenSNP

🤷‍♂️ "[#Mediation] cannot be thought to be totally unsuitable, @MaureenSNP because it's actually in the policy, but it only applies to current Ministers; not past Ministers."

Read 4 tweets

Scotland Speaks

@ScotlandSpeaks

28 Feb

🚨RE #FullDisclosure Shock

"We went through each and every document and cross-compared with what had been disclosed in both the #CivilCase and the #CriminalCase. And we found a substantial number of documents that we had never seen before; which is spectacular."

#ScotlandSpeaks

@PermSecScot

"[A spectacular example] – but by no means the only e.g. – is a series of documents which demonstrated that the @PermSecScot met one complainant and telephoned the other on March 6, 2018; that was the day before I was informed there were any complaints against me."
#SalmondSpeaks

@PermSecScot

🚨"The search warrant in the #CriminalCase specifies meetings between the @PermSecScot and complainants; [but] the @COPFS did not receive that document (I believe), which is almost beyond imagination." .. "That's obstruction of justice! And there are consequences for such things"

Read 8 tweets

Scotland Speaks

@ScotlandSpeaks

28 Feb

@ScotGov

🚨 "We indicated a willingness to [hand over documents to the committee], we then had correspondence from the @ScotGov who only would only agree [to us doing so] if we gave the documents to them [first] so they could – as they put it – 'make suitable redactions'."

#SalmondSpeaks

🤯#ProceduralUnfairness
"The Investigating Officer (IS) presents the case for the prosecution before the defendant is even informed about the procedure. Then the [accused], instead of being able to present their own case, has to give that case to the IS to present on his behalf."

@PermSecScot

🤯#ProceduralUnfairness
"The @PermSecScot decision not to allow me any contact with civil servants or even have documents (like my own diaries)."

Why would Civil Service use a procedure, to then hand over to a political party for sanction?

"Highly questionable!"

#SalmondSpeaks

Read 7 tweets

Scotland Speaks

@ScotlandSpeaks

28 Feb

@ScotGov

📺 Regarding the alternative options available to @ScotGov, including #Arbitration and #Mediation to resolve complaints.

"Mediation [was] available for current ministers, but not former ministers" .. "Mediation [was] missing .. for no understandable reason..."

#SalmondSpeaks

📰 "[#Arbitration] designed to provide a cheaper/ more private was of dealing with disputes."

"The idea that that wouldn't have been a better way to approach this matter – than what has transpired over the last 3 yrs – would be an extraordinary position to adopt"

#SalmondSpeaks

💡"If people would say, 'on reflection we could have avoided this disaster and saved the Scottish people £600,000' – that might be a good thing for people to say." .. "But people who took a decision might be expected to defend it, however disastrous the decision turned out to be"

Read 6 tweets

Scotland Speaks

@ScotlandSpeaks

26 Feb

@scotgov

📰 Regarding the #JudicialReview against the @scotgov:

"We would have expected to get a substantive reply" .. "Perhaps they were going to say, 'we're about to legislate for this anyway, or do something – remotely – legal"
–– @AlexSalmond

#SalmondSpeaks

@scotgov

The @scotgov refused arbitration; pressed ahead and cost the taxpayer £512,250 – the very highest level that could be awarded by the judge. The reason for that is the unprecedented lengths the Gov went to hide their evidence.

#SalmondSpeaks

@scotgov

🚨 A totally extraordinary position.

"The Gov were prepared to go before the Court and say, 'there were no more documents'." .. "[@scotgov] had been withholding documentation, not just from the petitioner (myself), not just the Court, but from their own Counsel."

#SalmondSpeaks