LONDON: The Scottish National Party (SNP) has contacted Britain’s Electoral Commission watchdog about its difficulties in finding an auditor to approve its annual accounts by July amid a police investigation into the party’s finances.
The husband of former Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon was held by police last week as part of an investigation into the funding of the pro-independence SNP, which runs Scotland’s semi-autonomous government, before being released without charge.
The police are continuing to look into what happened to more than 600,000 pounds ($750,000) raised by Scottish independence campaigners in 2017, which was supposed to have been ring-fenced but may have been used for other purposes.
There have been further questions over the party’s finances after it emerged their auditors resigned last year and have yet to be replaced.
The party faces the prospect of a fine if it misses a July deadline to file 2022 accounts with the Electoral Commission.
“We have informed the Electoral Commission of the difficulty in identifying replacement auditors and the National Treasurer has made the party’s Finance and Audit Committee aware,” an SNP spokesperson said.
Humza Yousaf, who became SNP leader and Scotland’s first minister two weeks ago following Sturgeon’s surprise resignation, on Tuesday, confirmed the previous auditors resigned last autumn but declined to comment in detail on events before his leadership.
Yousaf said that finding new auditors was a major priority for the party.
The Electoral Commission said if the party were to miss the deadline, it would consider action under its usual enforcement processes, which includes fines of up to 20,000 pounds ($24,800) depending on the details of any given case.
“The party has told us about their auditor resigning but the appointment of an auditor is an internal party matter,” the Electoral Commission said in a statement on Wednesday.
The husband of former Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon was held by police last week as part of an investigation into the funding of the pro-independence SNP, which runs Scotland’s semi-autonomous government, before being released without charge.
The police are continuing to look into what happened to more than 600,000 pounds ($750,000) raised by Scottish independence campaigners in 2017, which was supposed to have been ring-fenced but may have been used for other purposes.
There have been further questions over the party’s finances after it emerged their auditors resigned last year and have yet to be replaced.
The party faces the prospect of a fine if it misses a July deadline to file 2022 accounts with the Electoral Commission.
“We have informed the Electoral Commission of the difficulty in identifying replacement auditors and the National Treasurer has made the party’s Finance and Audit Committee aware,” an SNP spokesperson said.
Humza Yousaf, who became SNP leader and Scotland’s first minister two weeks ago following Sturgeon’s surprise resignation, on Tuesday, confirmed the previous auditors resigned last autumn but declined to comment in detail on events before his leadership.
Yousaf said that finding new auditors was a major priority for the party.
The Electoral Commission said if the party were to miss the deadline, it would consider action under its usual enforcement processes, which includes fines of up to 20,000 pounds ($24,800) depending on the details of any given case.
“The party has told us about their auditor resigning but the appointment of an auditor is an internal party matter,” the Electoral Commission said in a statement on Wednesday.