Image: STV
Nicola Sturgeon, the opposition leader and former Scottish First Minister, has been arrested on alleged fraud charges by the UK police.
The BBC reported that a 52-year-old woman was taken into custody on Sunday and is being questioned by detectives.
Sturgeon resigned as First Minister and SNP leader in early April. She is the third person to be arrested as part of Operation Branchform, the Police Scotland investigation into allegations that over £600,000 (approximately one billion Malawi Kwacha) in donations for a Scottish independence campaign were misspent by the party under Sturgeon’s leadership.
Sturgeon’s arrest follows that of her husband, Peter Murrell, who was arrested at their home in Uddingston near Glasgow on April 5th. Murrell, the former chief executive of the SNP, was interviewed under caution for nearly 12 hours but was later released without charge. Colin Beattie, SNP’s treasurer who was also arrested and questioned as part of the same inquiry on 18 April was also released later without charge.
In addition to Sturgeon’s arrest, Donald Trump was also arrested this week on espionage charges. Trump has claimed that his arrest is an act of political persecution orchestrated by the Joe Biden administration. Sturgeon has been an active proponent of Scottish independence, which could potentially result in the breakup of the UK into smaller countries.
Interestingly, African leaders have neither commented nor condemned the arrests of these senior Western political figures for political persecution.
It is yet to be determined whether these arrests are driven by the SNP’s push for an independent Scotland or Trump’s decision to challenge President Joe Biden, the incumbent.
