Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, middle, arrives at Edinburgh High Court, in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Monday.Jane Barlow/The Associated Press
Few political scandals are as stunning or as colourful as the saga playing out in Scotland, where the former CEO of the Scottish National Party has pleaded guilty to using party funds to make hundreds of personal purchases, including video games, toilet seats, a “slouch pouch” onesie and two sets of salt and pepper grinders worth $2,500 each.
The case involves Peter Murrell, once one of the most powerful figures in Scottish politics. Mr. Murrell served as the SNP’s chief executive for 22 years and, together with his wife, former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, built the party into a political juggernaut that has won five straight Scottish elections.
During a brief court hearing in Edinburgh on Monday, Mr. Murrell admitted to embezzling £400,310 ($750,000) from the SNP between 2010 and 2022. He’ll be sentenced next month and could face several years in prison.
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A 126-page court filing listed the reams of purchases he made with the money, ranging from high-end products to basic household supplies.
He bought a £124,550 motorhome; a £57,500 Jaguar I-Pace electric vehicle, which he later sold; a Bremont watch worth £4,555; and a £1,500 Montblanc fountain pen. He also paid £110 for a Caran d’Ache pencil sharpener.
He purchased video games, including Grand Theft Auto V, and bought regular supplies of Portuguese coffee beans. He spent £500 on a coffee cup warmer and £3,231 on a Jura GIGA 5 Cromo coffee machine. And he picked up a men’s “slouch pouch” onesie for £75.55.
The more mundane purchases included £154.97 for three bird feeders, £56.32 for a pair of toilet seats and £60 for a designer bread box. He even used SNP cash to buy four packages of curry sauce from a Chinese takeout restaurant for £11.99.
The personal expenditures “were a gross breach of trust,” Judge Andrew Young said after accepting the guilty plea.
Mr. Murrell, 62, and Ms. Sturgeon, 55, separated last year. In a statement Monday, the former first minister said: ”I had no knowledge or suspicion whatsoever that he was using SNP funds for personal purposes. I am utterly appalled that he did so and cannot begin to understand why."
Police Scotland had been investigating allegations of financial mismanagement at the SNP since 2021 when reports surfaced that money donated for a second referendum on Scottish independence had gone missing. At one point, officers seized the motorhome from the home of Mr. Murrell’s 92-year-old mother.
Ms. Sturgeon abruptly resigned as first minister in February, 2023, after nearly a decade in office. Mr. Murrell quit as CEO a month later over a separate scandal involving inaccurate party membership figures.
Former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon leaving her home in Uddingston, Scotland, in April, 2023. She abruptly resigned as first minister in February, 2023.Andrew Milligan/The Associated Press
He was arrested that April and released without charge. Officers also raided the SNP office in Edinburgh and questioned other senior party officials. That June, Ms. Sturgeon was arrested and released after seven hours of questioning.
Mr. Murrell was charged with embezzlement in April, 2024, and police later said Ms. Sturgeon and other party officials were no longer under investigation.
His guilty plea has not ended the controversy. The court hearing came just weeks after the SNP was returned to power on May 7, prolonging an electoral winning streak that dates back to 2007.
SNP Leader and First Minister John Swinney, who served as leader in 2001 when Mr. Murrell became CEO, said he felt betrayed by the guilty plea.
“By embezzling from the SNP, Peter Murrell was stealing the hopes, the dreams and the aspirations of thousands of people all over Scotland,” he told a news conference. Mr. Swinney insisted that the party had tightened its financial reporting and governance practices.
There have also been questions about how Ms. Sturgeon could have been so unaware of her husband’s actions.
They’d known each other since 1988 and married in 2010 when she was deputy party leader. She took over as leader and Scotland’s First Minister in 2014, after Alex Salmond resigned in the wake of a failed referendum on independence.
“I fully understand why people are surprised that she didn’t ask any questions about the large amount of luxury goods that were coming into the home, which she shared with Peter Murrell,” said former SNP MP Joanna Cherry, who left the party in 2021 over concerns about financial mismanagement.
“It is inconceivable that Nicola Sturgeon knew nothing about the large-scale fraud,” added Jackie Baillie, deputy leader of the Scottish Labour Party.
Ms. Sturgeon responded with a statement saying she didn’t know about many of the purchases. With regard to what she did know about, she said: “I had no reason to doubt that he had used his own money.” The couple kept separate bank accounts, “and I had no access to his financial records,” she added.