The former First Minister has made his long-awaited appearance at a Scottish Parliament inquiry, claiming Nicola Sturgeon has broken the Ministerial Code.
In a Committee meeting on Friday, Scotland’s former First Minister, Alex Salmond, said he had “no doubt” that the present First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, had broken the Ministerial Code.
Mr Salmond gave an account to the Committee of meetings he had with Ms Sturgeon that appeared to contradict her version of events.
But he said it was not for him to say whether Ms Sturgeon should resign if she was found to have broken the Code.
Ms Sturgeon has denied breaching the Code and, in response, accused Mr Salmond of creating “wild” conspiracy theories that were false.
A spokesman for the First Minister said that Mr Salmond had failed to provide proof of his allegations and “also gave testimony which directly undermined some of the central planks of his conspiracy theories”.
The inquiry is examining the Scottish Government’s failed attempts at handling harassment allegations against Mr Salmond.
The Scottish Government admitted it had acted unlawfully during previous investigations into complaints from two female civil servants, after Mr Salmond launched a judicial review case.
Mr Salmond was arrested two weeks after the Scottish Government admitted defeat in the civil case.
However, he was later cleared of 13 charges of sexual assault against a total of nine women, after a trial at the High Court last year.
He has previously accused SNP members and people close to Ms Sturgeon of plotting against him, one being SNP Chief Executive Peter Murrell, Ms Sturgeon’s husband.
Some of Mr Salmond’s written evidence, given ahead of the Committee meeting, was removed at the request of the Crown Office earlier this week and republished in redacted form, after it had already been published in full by the Scottish Parliament.
This included claims that Ms Sturgeon misled the Scottish Parliament over when she first learned of the allegations against Mr Salmond.
Despite this, he said it was not for him to say whether Ms Sturgeon should resign if she was found to have broken the Code.
