Probe into SNP finances drags on as experts say police need 1,000 more officers for complex financial investigations

Scotland has just 30 specialist officers in the Serious and Organised Crime Financial Investigation unit, despite the exploding £20 billion crimewave.

Complex financial crimes rocketed in the last five years and now account for almost 40% of all offences in Scotland with 111,054 committed in the last year, a 7% increase.

But experts warn government cuts mean Scotland has been left under-resourced to deal with complex financial investigations like Operation Branchform, the investigation into the SNP’s finances.

Former SNP Chief Executive Peter Murrell was charged in April with embezzlement over £600,000 party funding earmarked for a second independence campaign.

His wife, Scotland’s former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and former party treasurer Colin Beattie have both also been arrested, interviewed, but released without charge, as the case trundles into its third year.

Branchform was launched in July 2021. In April 2023 Murrell was arrested as police searched his and Sturgeon’s home. It later emerged officers had also seized a motorhome, worth more than £100,000, from the driveway of his mother’s Dunfermline home on the same day.

Dr David Shepherd of the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies at Portsmouth University said: “The UK is at the centre of an increasing £200 billion financial crimewave, but our police forces are simply not adequately prepared or resourced to deal with that.

“Research shows a huge disparity between the resources being made available to investigate this type of crime and its prevalence, despite the devastating effect it has on victims.”

“And Scotland appears to have even fewer officers working on financial crime then we do in England and Wales.”

© Duncan Bryceland/Shutterstock

Financial fraud has increased by 144% since 2015 in Scotland.

Cyber-crimes increased by 120% over the same period, with 16,890 recorded cases last year, an increase of almost 4,000 from the previous year.

Shepherd believes one way forward for police to tackle increasingly complex financial crimes is for a UK-wide specialist force with powers to prosecute to provide extra help, and legislation to hold corporations who play any role responsible for reimbursing victims similar to the scheme now offered by banks.

He said: “Financial crimes take time to investigate, so we tend to see large numbers of cases not being pursued despite the often-dire consequences for victims. We need to remember some people go on to take their own lives after becoming victims of this type of crime.”

Police Scotland continue to await the decision of the Crown Office as to whether Branchform will go to court or not, and who, if anyone, will be prosecuted.

But with prosecutors pointing out that they may now ask police to investigate further before they make any decision, there is every indication the matter will continue to drag on.

Professor Michael Levi of Cardiff University said one of the reasons why Branchform has taken three years could be the “fall-out” from previous cases.

He said: “Following the failed prosecution of Alex Salmond and the collateral damage to the system that followed, there may well be a degree of caution being applied here.”

General Secretary of the Scottish Police Federation David Kennedy believes the experts are correct. He said: “We are struggling with the lowest number of officers in decades, resources are stretched far too thin and our financial and cyber-crime specialists are being lured away by banks and private companies offering far better pay and conditions.

“At one time we were promised 18,000 officers. Now we have 16,600 and there have been major cuts to our training budgets.

“We need at least another thousand officers to do all the jobs we are expected to do, and the Scottish Government need to seriously look at how other countries resource their police.”

Kennedy is highly critical of swingeing government cuts.

He said: “While the Scottish Government removed £200 million from our budget and officer numbers are the lowest they have been in years, Ireland has added an extra £500 million to the Garda budget.

“Our officers are struggling with the cost of living the same as everyone else, but we are still waiting for a reply to our 5.7% pay claim.

“Meanwhile, our highly trained officers are quitting to work with financial institutions where they get far better pay and conditions.”

Kennedy said officers are struggling under the weight of having to investigate for and attend public inquiries, such as the Scottish Hospital Inquiry, on top of carrying out complex financial investigations such as Branchform.

He said: “Complex financial inquiries like Branchform require huge resources and time.

“While we’re investigating cases like Branchform, gathering evidence for public inquiries, and policing all the new Bills being brought in by the government, no extra resources are being made available.”

Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr said: “Given that officer numbers are at their lowest level since 2007, it is hardly a surprise that Operation Branchform is dragging on.

“The SNP’s savage and sustained cuts to police budgets have left our overstretched officers having to do more with less. Police Scotland’s ever depleting resources simply cannot go as far as they need to.

“The public are rightfully wondering why this case is taking so long. The onus is now on the SNP to fully cooperate with the authorities so that it can be brought to a conclusion.”

Police Scotland’s Assistant Chief Constable Andy Freeburn, said: “We have raised the threat of cyber criminality and have put plans in place to address it. Last month, the Chief Constable unveiled a new vision for Police Scotland, including a commitment to establish a new Cyber Command and increase our capabilities to tackle online fraud.”

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “A standard prosecution report has been received by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service from Police Scotland in relation to a 59-year-old man and incidents said to have occurred between 2016 and 2023. Connected investigations of two other individuals, a man aged 72 and a 53-year-old woman, remain ongoing.”