'Deeply inappropriate' Salmond behaviour
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Nicola Sturgeon has told an inquiry any suggestion she "acted with malice" or "plotted" against her predecessor Alex Salmond is "absurd".
Addressing a Scottish Parliament hearing in Edinburgh this morning, the first minister said she acted "properly and appropriately" in the handling of harassment claims against her predecessor.
She said she was "relieved" to be finally giving evidence to the committee, but said: "I feel I must rebut the absurd suggestion that anyone acted with malice or plotted against Alex Salmond. That claim is not based in any fact."
© 2021 Getty ImagesEDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - MARCH 03: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon gestures as she gives evidence to a Scottish Parliament committee examining the handling of harassment allegations against former first minister Alex Salmond on March 3, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland. During today's session the First Minister will face a number of questions from MSPs investigating the Scottish Government's inquiry into complaints against Salmond. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Ms Sturgeon said she cared for Mr Salmond "for a long time" and that the situation has been one of the "most invidious" of her life.
But she added that although he was cleared in a criminal trial, Mr Salmond's behaviour against women was "deeply inappropriate" and she "tried to do the right thing".
"A number of women made serious complaints against him," she said.
"I have searched my soul many, many times on all of this. It may very well be that I didn't get everything right, that's for others to judge.
© PANicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond
"But in one of the most invidious political and personal situations I have ever faced, I believe I acted properly and appropriately, and overall, I made the best judgments I could."
Ms Sturgeon is accused of breaking the ministerial code by failing to report the meeting she had with Mr Salmond on 2 April 2018 when he told her about the harassment claims against him.
She said that the meeting at her home in Glasgow was "firmly in the personal and party space" and that if she did declare it, she would have been "breaching the confidentiality of the process".
"It was for those reasons I didn't immediately record the 2 April meeting, or the subsequent phone call in 23 April, in which Mr Salmond wanted me to tell the permanent secretary that I knew about the investigation and persuade her to agree to mediation," she said.
She accepted that a "very serious mistake" was made when investigating the complaints against Mr Salmond and apologised to the two women who lodged them.
"Two women were failed and taxpayers' money was lost, I deeply regret that," she told the hearing.
© Thomson ReutersFormer Scottish National Party leader and former First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond makes his opening statement to The Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints at Holyrood, examining the government's handling of harassment allegations against him, in Edinburgh, Scotland, Britain February 26, 2021. Andy Buchanan/Pool via REUTERS
She said that the moment she claims to have found out about the allegations against Mr Salmond was one she will "
Mr Salmond was acquitted of 13 charges following a criminal trial and he won £512,000 after a judicial review ruled the investigation into them was "tainted by apparent bias".
Ms Sturgeon is facing calls from the Scottish Conservatives to resign over claims she misled parliament.