Operation Branchform to 're-interview SNP staff' as investigation nears third year

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Police investigating SNP finances have reportedly asked to re-interview party staff members.Detectives linked to Operation Branchform have sent letters to office workers employed by the Nationalists asking to speak with them.The on-going investigation is examining how more than £600,000 of donations raised by the SNP for independence campaigning was ultimately spent.Branchform was launched by Police Scotland in July 2021 following several complaints from members of the public, the first of which was made in March that year.Senior Nationalists are increasingly frustrated at the length of time the investigation has taken.The political world was stunned in April last year when dozens of police officers carried out an extensive search of the house belonging to Nicola Sturgeon and her husband Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive.The pair were separately arrested and questioned for several hours by detectives before being released without charge.Sturgeon has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and continues to work as MSP for Glasgow Southside.Murrell resigned as SNP chief executive in March last year following a row over party membership figures.A source told The Times: "Nobody talks about him, nobody has seen him, nobody knows where he is."Another party source told the paper there had been “not a dickie bird” about Murrell and that MSPs and MPs have stopped asking about their former boss.A spokesman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “Senior professional prosecutors from COPFS and an advocate depute are working with police on this ongoing investigation."It is standard practice that any case regarding politicians is dealt with by prosecutors without the involvement of the law officers.