Published: | Updated:
Peter Murrell’s motorhome is likely to be sold off at auction as part of a bid to claw back some of his ill-gotten gains.
The infamous vehicle, costing £124,550 and bought with cash embezzled from SNP funds, was parked outside the home of Murrell’s mother and seized as part of Operation Branchform.
The Crown Office has said it intends to recover some of the value of Murrell’s fraudulently obtained haul through proceeds of crime legislation.
This could cover recipients of gifts which were bought as a result of fraud – while the SNP, as the ‘victim’, could receive compensation.
Individual donors could sue the SNP to get back the cash which was embezzled by Murrell over a period of more than a decade.
Roy McComb, former deputy director of the National Crime Agency (NCA), nicknamed ‘Britain’s FBI’, said: ‘The Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) is often described as draconian.
‘The aim is to deny the benefit of criminality to the criminal, and it’s often used in organised crime cases.
‘Where you have cash in bank accounts or physical items – like a motorhome – they are tangible items than can be seized and the court can order confiscation.
Peter Murrell's motorhome is removed from outside his mother's home
‘They can be sold off, usually at a loss, at a police auction.’
He said donors could sue the SNP for the cash they have lost.
Mr McComb said the case raised questions about how parties are funded and who holds party bosses accountable.
He said: ‘There have to be checks and balances, and this case shines a light on some of the weaknesses of our system.’
Dr Andrew Cornford, a senior lecturer at the School of Law at the University of Edinburgh, said: ‘The Crown can now seek a confiscation order under POCA.
‘If they do so, the court must decide the value of the benefit obtained from the embezzlement and make a confiscation order for that amount.’
Dr Cornford said ‘as a general rule, gifts made from the embezzled property are considered “tainted” and are counted towards the recoverable amount for the purposes of a confiscation order’.
The amount seized would go into public funds, which could then be invested through the CashBack for Communities programme, which funds projects such as playpark construction.
Nicola Sturgeon with her now estranged - and convicted - husband Peter Murrell
He said the Crown could also seek a separate compensation order which would be paid to the SNP.
If the court believes that an accused would be unable to satisfy both orders, the compensation order takes priority, and the court could order some of the compensation to be paid out of the amount recovered under the POCA confiscation order.
The motorhome was seized by police in 2023 – on the same day Nicola Sturgeon’s husband was arrested and the marital home raided. It was later photographed sitting in a police storage yard.
Seized property, confiscated vehicles and unclaimed goods are often sold through public auctions on behalf of police forces.
The former chief executive used false accounting procedures to conceal the true nature of the purchases totalling £139,971.
Murrell used SNP money to pay a £30 parking fine and sold an SNP-owned iPad Pro and pocketed £701 from the sale.
He appeared to have an affection for purchasing video gaming items, with almost £2,000 spent over a ten-year period. In May and June of 2017, he purchased two Bremont World Timer Alt 1 watches in white and black for £4,555.25 and £4,795 respectively.
A further £4,225 was spent on a Montblanc Starwalker World Time fountain pen in March of that year, one of a number of pens purchased for four-figure amounts.
Police officers outside the home of Peter Murrell and Nicola Sturgeon back in 2023
Among those are a Montblanc meisterstück moon pearl – a modern version of the pen used by Roger Moore’s James Bond in the 1983 film Octopussy – and two special Beatles editions designed by the same company. A £3,500 hand chased wine coaster in Britannia silver was purchased a week before Christmas in 2017.
Prosecutor Alan Cameron, KC said at a hearing on Monday that the Crown intends to recover Murrell’s ill-gotten gains under Proceeds of Crime laws.
The case will call again next week when Mr Cameron will present a narrative detailing Murrell’s offending.
Judge Lord Young will then decide whether the POCA action can proceed.
Meanwhile, Murrell’s lawyers are preparing a bill to be submitted for payment by the Scottish Legal Aid Board, which is funded by the taxpayer.
Murrell will be sentenced on June 23. The SNP was contacted for comment.
此内容由惯性聚合(RSS阅读器)自动聚合整理，仅供阅读参考。 原文来自 — 版权归原作者所有。