UK NEWS
SALMOND FACING A HOLYDOOD BAN OVER ‘CASH FOR ACCESS’
First Minister Alex Salmond and his deputy Nicola Sturgeon could be fined up to £5,000
By Paul Gilbride
FIRST Minister Alex Salmond and his deputy Nicola Sturgeon could be fined up to £5,000 and excluded from Parliament if they are found to have broken rules by raising “cash for access”.
A complaint by the Scottish Labour Party is to be studied by Standards Commissioner Stuart Allan to establish if the code of conduct governing MSPs’ behaviour has been breached.
The move comes after lunches in the parliament restaurant with Mr Salmond and Health Secretary Ms Sturgeon were auctioned at a fund-raising event for Osama Saeed, the SNP’s Westminster candidate in Glasgow Central. Mr Saeed is also chief executive of the Scottish-Islamic Foundation.
Bidders at the event in an Indian restaurant in Glasgow last Tuesday paid £9,000 for lunch with Mr Salmond and £2,500 for lunch with his deputy. Mr Salmond has also admitted he sold three lunches in Holyrood’s members’ restaurant last year for a total of £1,500, while Ms Sturgeon auctioned a tour of Holyrood for £260.
The First Minister has now decided to cancel the lunches.The Scottish Parliament’s Corporate Bureau, the body that runs Holyrood, is already investigating the use of parliamentary premises to help raise party funds, which is forbidden.
The Standards Commissioner has been asked to rule on whether the sale of six events by Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon breached the sections of the code covering lobbying and MSP access.
He was also asked to judge whether Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon should have declared the auctions in their Parliamentary Register of Interests.
Any MSP found guilty of an offence under either section faces a fine of up to £5,000 and a period of exclusion from Parliament.
Labour’s Holyrood business manager, Paul Martin, said: “It is right that the Standards Commissioner should be looking into this matter, and it is time Alex Salmond apologised for abusing the office of First Minister by allowing cash for access for party funding.”
But a spokesman for Mr Salmond claimed Labour were “confused” and said it was not for the Standards Commissioner, but for Parliament managers, to rule over the use of the restaurant.
