Operation Branchform timeline: How police launched an investigation into SNP finances

The on-going investigation into SNP finances is focused on how the party spent donations raised with the intention of fighting a second referendum on independence. Detectives have spent more than two years combing through accounts and interviewing witnesses.

March 2017

Nicola Sturgeon announces the SNP will push for a second referendum on independence following the 2016 Brexit vote. The party launches a #ScotRef fundraising appeal that same day. The online crowdfunder is closed after the June 2017 general election - which saw the SNP's vote share drop - having raised almost half of its £1m target.

December 2019

The SNP wins 48 seats across Scotland at the general election. Sturgeon argues this is a clear mandate from the public to hold an IndyRef2. A second fundraising website, Yes.Scot, helps take the party's campaign fighting fund total to nearly £667,000. SNP membership peaks at 126,000.

March 2021

Three SNP officials resign from the party's finance and audit committee after being denied sight of the accounts. Frank Ross, Allison Graham and Cynthia Guthrie read out a joint statement at an SNP NEC meeting, the party's ruling body. The Sunday Mail later obtains a video recording of the meeting. It shows Nicola Sturgeon telling the NEC the party's finances have never been stronger, and warning of the impact on future donations if anyone goes public with their concerns.

March 2021

Independence activist Sean Clerkin makes a formal complaint to Police Scotland calling on officers to launch an investigation into how party donations, supposedly ring-fenced for an IndyRef2 campaign, were being spent. He later tells the Record how he was branded a "traitor" and an "MI5 agent" by other independence campaigners for his actions.

May 2021

SNP MP Douglas Chapman resigns as the party's treasurer. He claims that "despite having a resounding mandate from members to introduce more transparency into the party's finances, I have not received the support or financial information" required to do the job. Chapman had only been in the role since the previous November, when he defeated long-serving treasurer Colin Beattie in an internal vote. Fellow SNP MP Joanna Cherry also quits her position on the national executive committee, citing concerns over transparency.

June 2021

Peter Murrell, the SNP's long-serving chief executive, provides the party with a loan of £107,000. Around half the money was paid back by October that year. Details of the loan will only be made public in December 2022. An SNP spokesman later said the loan was a "personal contribution made by the chief executive to assist with cash flow after the Holyrood election".

July 2021

Police Scotland launches Operation Branchform to investigate how the SNP spent more than £600,000 of donations intended for a second independence referendum campaign.

August 2021

SNP treasurer Colin Beattie admits there has been "concern" about transparency regarding independence-related appeals. In a section of the party's annual accounts, the MSP discussed money raised by independence fundraisers since 2017. Beattie said that £666,953 had been raised up to the end of 2021, with a total of £51,760 expenditure applied to this income. The money was "earmarked" through internal processes, he said, though the accounts did not officially record a separate sum.

September 2022

The SNP loses the services of accounting firm Johnston Carmichael, which had audited the party's finances for the previous decade. The loss of the auditors is only made public seven months later, with many senior SNP members left in the dark over the subsequent struggle to appoint a replacement firm.

February 2023

Nicola Sturgeon stuns the political world when she announces her sudden resignation as First Minister. The SNP is rocked as a bitter leadership contest subsequently begins to replace her as party leader. The Sunday Mail later reveals that police started interviewing potential witnesses as part of Operation Branchform that same month.

March 2023

The Sunday Mail reveals that detectives are investigating a series of high-value transactions by the SNP, including the purchase of vehicles. That same month, Peter Murrell resigns as SNP chief executive after a row over membership numbers shows the party has lost 30,000 in two years. Humza Yousaf wins the race to succeed Sturgeon as First Minister and party leader.

April 5, 2023

Murrell is arrested at the home he shares with Nicola Sturgeon on the outskirts of Glasgow. He is taken to Falkirk police station where he is questioned by detectives for several hours in connection with Operation Branchform. He is released without charge that evening, pending further investigations. Police also search the couple's home over a 48-hour period. In Edinburgh, the SNP party HQ is searched and electronic equipment removed.

April 14, 2023

The Record reveals how a luxury campervan seized by police from outside the home of Peter Murrell's elderly mother was intended to be an SNP campaign battle bus. The vehicle sat on a drive in Dunfermline for two years and was never used.

April 18, 2023

Colin Beattie, who had served as SNP treasurer for two decades in two stints in the role, is arrested and questioned by detectives in connection with Operation Branchform. He is released without charge that same day, pending further investigations. Humza Yousaf is forced to deny speculation the party is on the verge of bankruptcy.

May 2023

The Record reveals how cops probing SNP funds hunted for a women’s razor and a wheelbarrow at Nicola Sturgeon’s home. The household items were on the police most-wanted list as they raided the house the former first minister shares with her husband Peter Murrell.

June 11, 2023

Nicola Sturgeon is arrested by Operation Branchform detectives and questioned for several hours. The MSP is released without charge, pending further investigation.

June 20, 2023

Sturgeon faces the media for the first time since her arrest. Speaking in the Garden Lobby of the Scottish Parliament, the MSP said she could "only speak for myself" when asked if others in the SNP were innocent of wrongdoing.

Sturgeon said: "There is a difference between me and my husband. I'm an elected politician and a public servant and therefore there is an expectation that I make statements and answer questions. Peter is not in that position."

She added: "I'm here speaking for myself, and as I have done previously, I'm expressing again my certainty that I have done nothing wrong."

August, 2023

The out-going chief constable of Police Scotland defends the length of time the investigation has taken. Speaking before his planned retirement, Iain Livingstone said choosing not to investigate complaints against the SNP would have been a "grotesque neglect of my duty".

He added: "I don’t know how the matter will ultimately be resolved, that will probably be outwith the hands of the police service, but it will go into the independent prosecution service and if need be, it will go into the hands of the court system."

October, 2023

Following the SNP’s defeat in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election, Humza Yousaf said the investigation into the party’s finances – along with the “reckless” actions of recalled MP Margaret Ferrier – played a part in the result. He said the party would “regroup” and come back stronger..

January, 2024

Speaking to a BBC Radio 4 podcast, Yousaf said the police investigation into SNP finances has “clearly” affected the public perception of the party. He said the inquiry has been “one of the most difficult times” for the SNP and that he must work hard to rebuild trust.

April 18, 2024

Peter Murrell is charged in connection with the embezzlement of funds from the party. The 59-year-old was quizzed at Falkirk police station, more than a year after his first arrest, before being charged.

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