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Sturgeon said he has not spoken to his former mentor since August 2018.
Nicola Sturgeon has said she “forgot” about a meeting where she believes she was told about the harassment allegations against Alex Salmond.
The prime minister’s written evidence in the investigation into the mishandling of complaints against her predecessor by her government has been published.
Sturgeon insisted that he “tried to do the right thing” and “did not try to influence” the investigation.
The opposition MSPs said their evidence had “as many holes as Swiss cheese.”
The prime minister had previously told the MSPs that she first learned of the complaints against Salmond on April 2, 2018, at a meeting at her home in Glasgow.
- Read the full written presentation of Nicola Sturgeon
But in his written testimony, he said he had “forgotten” about a meeting with Geoff Aberdein, a former assistant to Mr. Salmond, on March 29.
Sturgeon said Aberdein had been to parliament to see a former colleague and had gone to see the prime minister while he was there.
She said: “I had forgotten that this encounter had taken place until I remembered it, I think, in late January / early February 2019.
“For context, I think the meeting took place shortly after FMQ’s weekly session and in the middle of a busy day where I would have been dealing with a multitude of other matters.
“However, from what I recall, the discussion covered the fact that Alex Salmond urgently wanted to see me on a serious matter, and I think it covered the suggestion that the matter might be related to allegations of a sexual nature.”
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Sturgeon insisted that while he was “suspicious” about what his predecessor wanted to talk about, “it was Alex Salmond who told me on April 2 that he was being investigated and what the details of the allegations were.”
He said he agreed to meet with his predecessor because he had the impression that “Mr. Salmond was in a considerable state of distress” and might be willing to renounce his membership in the SNP. “
The MSP committee was created to investigate the government’s handling of two harassment complaints against the former prime minister, after he successfully challenged the complaints process in court.
In her written communication, dated August 4, but recently published, Ms. Sturgeon insisted that “in a very difficult personal, political and professional situation, I tried to do the right thing.”
The prime minister spoke to Salmond about the complaints five times during the spring and summer of 2018, but said he had not spoken to his former mentor since.
He insisted that “it was not intended to prevent or influence due consideration of the complaints.”
And he said that he had “acted in a way that in my opinion would better protect the independence and confidentiality of the investigation.”
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Geoff Aberdein testified at Salmond’s trial that he had met Ms. Sturgeon in March 2018.
Sturgeon also said he wanted to “reject in the strongest terms” any suggestion that he had conspired with or against Salmond, and said the government had a duty to investigate any complaint, regardless of who was involved.
Sturgeon said that while “working for Mr. Salmond could be challenging” and he had been involved in “tense situations,” he had previously had no “general concerns” about the culture of the government he ran and “certainly not about sexual harassment. “. .
But he said he had spoken to his predecessor about a media investigation into “allegations of sexual misconduct” in November 2017, and that while this ultimately came to nothing, “it left me with persistent concern that the allegations about Salmond could materialize at some point. ” “.
‘Completely frustrated’
The convenor of the investigation committee, SNP MSP Linda Fabiani, had previously complained that she was “completely frustrated” by the lack of evidence and what she described as “obstruction” by the government, the SNP and Mr. Salmond.
Members of the opposition have accused Ms Sturgeon of retracting her promise to provide “whatever material” the committee requested, and a conservative MSP was expelled from the Holyrood chamber for saying the prime minister had “lied to parliament. “.
In angry exchanges in the parliamentary chamber last week, Sturgeon said it was “outrageous” to be accused of not answering questions, and said the investigation “can call me anytime.
Labor MSP committee member Jackie Baillie said the prime minister’s written presentation “raises a lot of questions and could be described as having as many holes as Swiss cheese.”
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The committee has also asked questions of Ms. Sturgeon’s husband, SNP chief Peter Murrell.
The committee also received a new introduction from SNP CEO Peter Murrell, who is also Sturgeon’s husband.
Murrell has been criticized by some in the SNP for the text messages he sent in January 2019, one suggesting that “people should ask the police questions” and that it was a “good time to put pressure on them,” and another that said that “the more fronts [Mr Salmond] it’s having to fight the best. “
Murrell said that “I did not express myself well” but insisted that “the messages have been presented in a way that suggests a meaning that they do not really have.”
He said the text messages had been “sent the day after Mr. Salmond was charged with a series of serious crimes” and reflected “the shock, pain and discomfort” felt by him and others in the SNP.
The SNP chief said that the first text was intended to “advise that questions be directed to the police and not to the SNP”, while the second was “that each and every complaint must be properly investigated.”
