Operation Branchform investigation into SNP finances 'methodical' and 'thorough', says ex-top cop

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A final report on the police investigation into SNP finances will "probably" be passed to prosecutors, a former top cop has predicted.Iain Livingstone, who retired this month as Chief Constable of Police Scotland, said choosing not to investigate complaints against the SNP would have been a "grotesque neglect of my duty".

And he again defended the decision to erect a tent outside Nicola Sturgeon's house while officers searched inside.Livingstone also said he did not know how the investigation would be resolved - but predicted it would be left up to prosecutors on whether to press charges. "If I hadn’t been pursuing Operation Branchform, if we didn’t have the detectives investigating the matters that we are now looking at, it would be a grotesque neglect of my duty, not only legally, but morally," he told Holyrood magazine."I don’t know how the matter will ultimately be resolved, that will probably be outwith the hands of the police service, but it will go into the independent prosecution service and if need be, it will go into the hands of the court system. "But the police responsibility is to investigate thoroughly, to look for evidence and if there is sufficiency of evidence that suggests criminality, we would then report that matter to the Crown."Operation Branchform was launched two years ago to examine how donations to the SNP to fund a second independence referendum campaign were being spent.

It saw dozens of officers search a home belonging to Sturgeon and her husband, former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, for two days in April.The scale of the search - which also saw detectives target the SNP head office in Edinburgh - has been questioned by some.