A former SNP treasurer has urged John Swinney to launch a full audit of party accounts over the past decade following the Peter Murrell scandal.

Douglas Chapman quit his role in charge of the SNP’s finances in 2021 in protest at not being given enough information to do the job.

He has now urged the First Minister to order an internal probe in the wake of Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband admitting he embezzled more than £400,000 from the party.

The ex-MP also raised fresh questions about Mr Swinney’s own role in the scandal after he praised the ‘sound stewardship’ of the party’s long-serving treasurer Colin Beattie in 2020.

Last week, Mr Swinney conceded a lack of adequate controls within the SNP had helped Murrell, the party’s former chief executive, cover his tracks.

Mr Chapman backed the SNP’s controversial opposition to a parliamentary probe at Westminster or Holyrood because he claimed it would ‘turn into some sort of political bloodbath rather than getting to the facts’.

But he went on: ‘I heard somebody saying the other day that if John Swinney was to, for example, say we are going to have a complete audit of the SNP’s accounts over the last five to ten years then that allows them then to say we are taking this seriously and looking at it.

‘And I know that changes have been made in the way the party is managed.’

In March 2021, three SNP officials – Frank Ross, Allison Graham and Cynthia Guthrie – resigned from the party’s finance and audit committee after being denied sight of the accounts amid concerns about the lack of transparency.

Mr Chapman then quit his role in May 2021 – just a few months after taking over from Mr Beattie – after not receiving ‘the support of financial information required to carry out the fiduciary duties’.

Mr Beattie was reappointed as treasurer in June 2021. Mr Chapman highlighted that when he stood to become the SNP’s national treasurer in November 2020 Mr Swinney had backed Mr Beattie to continue in the role.

In a message on social media at the time, Mr Swinney said: ‘Delighted to vote for Colin Beattie as the SNP National Treasurer. His hard work and sound stewardship of our finances has made all our campaign success possible. Let’s keep it going.’

Speaking on the Through A Scottish Prism pro-independence podcast, Mr Chapman said: ‘I was absolutely delighted to win as national treasurer but, even at that point, there was a circling of the wagons because they knew – I believe they knew anyway – that all was not well with the way the finances were operating. ‘If you look at what has happened the other day, John Swinney said that there weren’t adequate controls to stop

Murrell’s thieving and the systems in place should have been able to not be abused the way they were by Murrell.

‘So over that period – the 16 years of Colin Beattie being the treasurer – then when there was a change of regime and I appointed the three attack dogs as it were onto the audit committee – all the wrongdoing seemed to come to a halt at that point, and obviously came to a complete halt when the police started to investigate.’

However, he now believes a parliamentary inquiry would not be ‘very good for the SNP’ and raised fears about the impact the scandal will have on the party’s independence push. 

Mr Chapman said: ‘My main concern as well is what impact is all this is having on the independence movement, on the independence campaign?

‘And does it actually detract from people’s confidence in our future as an independent nation?

‘Because all this says, you know, if you can’t run your own party how on earth are you going to run the country?

‘It’s that kind of ongoing comment that is going to make things more difficult.’

Last week, SNP leader Mr Swinney admitted that ‘there had not been, in every respect, adequate controls in place’ during Murrell’s crime spree.

Responding to Mr Swinney’s social media praise of Mr Beattie’s ‘sound stewardship’ of the SNP’s finances in 2020, Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay said: ‘This bombshell social media post adds to the overwhelming body of evidence that John Swinney, along with Nicola Sturgeon, bears responsibility for helping enable Peter Murrell’s crimes.

‘Swinney publicly praised his inept treasurer Colin Beattie who was oblivious to the fact that Murrell was thieving with impunity right under their noses.

‘This catastrophic failure of basic standards of financial stewardship is one of many reasons why we need a parliamentary inquiry to get the necessary answers.’

The SNP has been asked for comment.

The call for an internal probe comes as the SNP was accused of a culture of cover-up for opposing calls for parliamentary inquiries into the scandal at Holyrood and Westminster.

It also comes amid reports on Monday that Murrell has been moved from the tough HMP Edinburgh to the much easier regime at HMP Dumfries ahead of sentencing.

The Scottish Prison Service declined to comment on individual prisoners.