Plush motorhome seized in SNP fraud probe was not insured, say insiders
A luxurious motorhome value greater than £100,000 belonging to the SNP has by no means been insured by the party, insiders have claimed. The Niesmann+Bischoff campervan sat exterior the house of Nicola Sturgeon’s mother-in-law for the final two years.
Sources near the probe into SNP funds mentioned the plush motorhome, value an estimate £110,000 and revealed final week to have been purchased from a vendor in Stafford, close to Birmingham, had by no means been insured.
One instructed the Sunday Mail: “It raises questions about the SNP’s story that it was for campaigning.
“If that was the case, surely, it would have been insured in case the party wanted to use it.”
Party sources have beforehand mentioned the motorhome was meant to operate as a marketing campaign battle bus within the run-up to the 2021 Holyrood election with the nation was within the grip of the coronavirus pandemic.
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However, because the restrictions have been step by step eased, it was now not wanted, and since 2021 has been parked within the driveway of ex-SNP Chief Executive Peter Murrell’s mom.
The car was seized from the Dunfermline property on April 5 – the identical day which Mr Murrell, who has been married to Sturgeon for 13 years, was arrested and the home he shares with the ex-First Minister Nicolas Sturgeon was raided by police.
He was subsequently launched with out cost.
The police probe, dubbed Operation Branchform, can also be greater than 1,000 transactions on Amazon, the acquisition of costly cookware and dear pens, and officers have been trying to find unregistered sim playing cards.
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A Scottish Labour spokesman mentioned: “The campervan story – flimsy as it was – continues to unravel for the SNP.
“The public deserve answers about what exactly this party thought they were up to.”
An SNP spokesman mentioned: “These issues are subject to a live police investigation.
“The SNP have been cooperating fully with this investigation and will continue to do so.
“However, it is not appropriate to publicly address these issues during this time.”