POLICE Scotland’s former chief constable has defended the long-running investigation into SNP finances.

Iain Livingstone has spoken with this week’s Herald on Sunday almost a year on from when the inquiry escalated, with the search of the home of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and her husband Peter Murrell.

So far, both Sturgeon and Murrell as well as former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie have all been arrested and released without charge.

The operation was first launched in July 2021. 

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Livingstone left Police Scotland last August and is now leading Operation Kenovo – a long-running investigation relating to the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

He was pressed on concerns the ongoing investigation is damaging the SNP in the run-up to the next General Election.

“We have always acted in the interests of justice and the rule of law. The political circumstances are around us at all times,” he said.

“I know we have acted with due process. But I have been retired a matter of months now and the matter of Branchform is no longer a matter for me.”

He was further pressed on whether or not a £110,000 campervan at the centre of the investigation should be returned.

The vehicle was towed away by the force last year from outside Sturgeon’s mother-in-law’s house in Dunfermline.

Asked if this should be returned, he said: “I don’t think anything should be happening until there is a decision from the Crown Office.”

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Last week, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn (above) joked that the campervan could be given to the Tartan Army for Euro 2024 in Germany.

He also said he still believed comments he made last year when he said, “the sooner Operation Branchform is over the better for everyone”.

“I said the sooner things come to a head for everyone, the better and I still believe that,” he said.

Livingstone also said he would not give advice to his successor Jo Farrell, saying it would be “inappropriate” to do so but that he wanted both her and the force to “do really well”.

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He also rejected criticisms, including from the SNP's chief executive Murray Foote, that the operation had been heavy handed in the search of Sturgeon and Murrell’s home, including the erection of an evidence tent outside the couple’s home.

He said: “I think it was proportionate and necessary, as I said at the time, and I still believe I would have been in neglect of duty had we not acted as we did.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson told The Herald: "As the investigation remains ongoing we are unable to comment."

It is understood that the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has not received a Standard Prosecution Report on Operation Branchform.

A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “Senior professional prosecutors from COPFS and an Advocate Depute are working with police on this ongoing investigation.

“It is standard practice that any case regarding politicians is dealt with by prosecutors without the involvement of the Law Officers. All Scotland’s prosecutors act independently of political interference.

“As is routine, to protect the integrity of ongoing investigations, we do not comment in detail on their conduct.”