Nicola Sturgeon has been cleared of wrongdoing following an probe into the SNP’s finances.
The party’s former leader was arrested in June 2023 by detectives investigating the whereabouts of £660,000 donated to the party for a second independence referendum campaign.
Her husband and former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, and the party’s former treasurer Colin Beattie, were also arrested as part of the Operation Branchform probe.
Murrell was subsequently charged with embezzlement and appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today.
In a statement, Police Scotland later confirmed that Sturgeon and Beattie will not be charged.
A spokesperson said: “Following direction from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, criminal enquiries into two people arrested as part of the investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National Party have now concluded.
“The 73 year-old man arrested on 18 April, 2023, and the 54 year-old woman arrested on 11 June, 2023, have not been charged and are no longer under investigation.”
The police inquiry was launched following allegations that the money, which was meant to be in a ring-fenced fund to pay for a second independence referendum, had been misappropriated.
Sturgeon announced earlier this year that she and Murrell had “decided to end” their marriage.
It was announced earlier this week that her memoir, Frankly, will be published in August.
Speaking outside her home near Glasgow, Sturgeon said: “I am completely in the clear, that is the outcome I would always have expected.
“As I have said to all of you many times, I have done nothing wrong so I was confident of reaching at this point and getting to this outcome.
“For almost two years I have had this cloud of investigation hanging over me.
“I think it won’t surprise anybody to hear me say that it’s not been an easy experience, so to reach this point today it is obviously something I am relieved about.
“I’ve been try to get on with my life and I now intend to do that.”