A parliamentary committee concluded Thursday March 18 that Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon had
"deceived"
Parliament over accusations of sexual assault against her predecessor, according to local media, increasing pressure on the pro-independence leader to less than two months of crucial elections.
Read also: Nicola Sturgeon: "Scotland is determined to follow a legal path to become an independent state"
The commission responsible for shedding light on the management by the local government of the accusations against the former Prime Minister and SNP leader Alex Salmond, cleared by justice in 2020, concluded by five votes to four that there was a contradiction in Nicola Sturgeon's account of a meeting at the start of the case, according to several local media outlets.
The commission's report is expected early next week, but such a conclusion risks intensifying calls for the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon, whose independence party, the SNP, wants to make the May 6 election a springboard for 'a new referendum on independence.
Read also: Scotland: Sturgeon engages in arm wrestling for another referendum on independence
On March 3 before the commission, Nicola Sturgeon had assured to have acted
"in an appropriate manner"
and considered
"absurd"
the accusations of conspiracy formulated by her former mentor.
"The Prime Minister told the truth to the commission for eight hours and maintains her remarks,"
said a spokeswoman for the Scottish leader, denouncing the prejudices of the members of the opposition who sit on this commission even before she do not file in front of them.
This fratricidal affair poisons the separatists, who hope to achieve electoral success to obtain the organization of a new self-determination referendum for Scotland.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson firmly refuses, saying the issue was settled by a referendum in 2014, but polls in recent months have shown a majority in favor of independence.
Read also: The Scots lean in favor of independence since the epidemic
Alex Salmond has long been the strong man of Scotland, leading for twenty years the SNP, of which he was the first party.
In 2014, he threw in the towel after the
“no”
victory
in the independence referendum.
He was acquitted in March 2020 by a Scottish court of thirteen charges of sexual assault and attempted rape against nine women between June 2008 and November 2014.
As early as 2019, the Scottish government admitted having mismanaged the internal investigation into the complaints against Alex Salmond by two women and then agreed to pay him more than 500,000 pounds (579,000 euros) to cover his costs of justice.