A luxury campervan has been seized by police as part of an investigation into SNP finances, it has emerged.
The Niesmann+Bischoff motorhome, with a retail value of £110,000, was reportedly taken from outside a home in Fife at the same time as police searched the home of Nicola Sturgeon and her husband, Peter Murrell, according to The Mail on Sunday.
The revelation comes as the SNP is facing what officials have described as its “biggest and most challenging crisis” as police probe the party’s funding and finances.
Mr Murrell, the party’s former chief executive, was arrested on Wednesday last week by police looking into the spending of around £600,000 which was earmarked for an independence campaign.
The 58-year-old was later released without charge pending further investigation.
Police Scotland officers spent hours searching the home of Mr Murrell and Ms Sturgeon near Glasgow on Wednesday, and at the same time carried out a search of the SNP’s headquarters in Edinburgh.
Police also visited an address 50 miles from the home that the former SNP chief executive shared with Ms Sturgeon, it has emerged.
A state-of-the-art vehicle is understood to have been loaded onto a tow truck and removed.
On Saturday, Ms Sturgeon, 52, spoke publicly for the first time since her husband’s arrest but stressed there was nothing she could say about the ongoing investigation.
Addressing reporters outside her home, she said: “As much as there are things I may want to say, I’m not able to do so, other than to say that, as has been the case, there will continue to be full co-operation.
“The last few days have been obviously difficult, quite dramatic at times, but I understand that is part of a process.”
Although Ms Sturgeon said she had not been questioned herself, she said she would “fully co-operate with the police” if they did wish to speak to her.
In the meantime, she said she planned to “get on with life and my job”. She continues to sit in the Scottish Parliament as a backbench MSP for Glasgow Southside.
The same day, SNP president, Mike Russell, told The Herald newspaper that recent weeks had been “wearing” for the party, which elected Humza Yousaf as party leader following Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation in February.
“In my 50-year association with the party, this is the biggest and most challenging crisis we’ve ever faced, certainly while we’ve been in government,” he said, adding: “But I have an obligation to this party and the movement for Scottish independence that’s been such a massive part of my life for so long.”
Just a day earlier, it had emerged the accountancy firm which audits the SNP’s finances resigned after working with the party for a decade.
Johnston Carmichael informed the party of the decision before Mr Murrell’s arrest.
And the party’s treasurer is now seeking another auditor in order to comply with Electoral Commission rules.
Police Scotland has said its investigation is ongoing.
An SNP spokesman said: “It would not be appropriate to comment on any live police investigation.
“The SNP has been co-operating fully with this investigation and will continue to do so.”
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