The probe into the Scottish Government's handling of complaints against Alex Salmond has been put on hold as MSPs struggle to obtain crucial information.
Linda Fabiani, the convener of the Holyrood committee investigating the matter, made the shock announcement this afternoon.
She said the inquiry was being "obstructed" and that MSPs were being "completely frustrated". She added the committtee had yet to get responses to its requests from the Scottish Government, the SNP's chief executive Peter Murrell (who is married to the First Minister) and Salmond.
"The Committee continues to be completely frustrated with the lack of evidence and, quite frankly, obstruction it is experiencing," she said in a statement.
"We had hoped to be in a position to hear further oral evidence, but with responses still outstanding from the Scottish Government, Chief Executive of the SNP and the former First Minister, all of this means that we simply cannot proceed at this stage."
She added: “We have no choice but to meet in private again next week to review the evidence we have received to date. But I would urge all those we have approached to engage productively with the Committee so it can get on with the task in hand.”
Earlier it was claimed the First Minister's position is being “jeopardised” by claims of “murky goings-on” in the Salmond case.
Campbell Gunn, who worked for Salmond and Sturgeon, wrote that “one or two people losing their jobs” over the Government’s botched handling of the controversy must "surely" be a “political price worth paying”.
He urged the Government to get “everything out in the open” and warned of the political dangers of the row dragging on until the end of the year.
The Holyrood committee has been investigating how the Scottish Government handled complaints of harassment against Salmond when he was First Minister.
Salmond took the Scottish Government to court in a civil action with the court ruling the inquiry had been unlawful and tainted by apparent bias.
The Scottish Government probe is said to have ended the long-standing political friendship between Sturgeon and Salmond.
MSPs on the Holyrood committee are trying to find out how procedures to deal with civil servants' complaints against ministers and former minister were drawn up, what went wrong in the inquiry into the complaints made by officials against the former First Minister that that cost the taxpayer over £500,000, and what lessons can be learnt.
However, the committee inquiry has been marked by rows with the Government over the non-disclosure of information.
While the Government has cited legal privilege as a reason for why some documents cannot be handed over, critics have accused it of secrecy.
The Holyrood committee met in private today and will hold another private session next Tuesday.
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