Alex Salmond's lawyer has warned the Holyrood Inquiry will be doing a “disservice” to the public if its conclusions are based on “incomplete” evidence.
The former First Minister’s legal team made the claim after MSPs refused to heed Salmond 's suggestion of issuing his own solicitors with a legal order for information.
A Holyrood committee is investigating the SNP Government’s mis-handling of sexual misconduct complaints against Salmond when he was First Minister.
Salmond took the government to court and it was agreed the internal probe, which destroyed his friendship with Sturgeon, had been unlawful and tainted by apparent bias.
At a marathon evidence session last month, Salmond blasted the Government over the unlawful probe and accused Sturgeon of breaching the ministerial code in relation to meetings between them.
He also accused named SNP figures, including Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell, of plotting against him over his criminal case. He was acquitted after a trial last year.
In the final part of his oral evidence, Salmond informed the Committee they could use their legal powers to serve an order on his lawyers to release documents he believes are vital:
“It is a matter for this committee, but, if you do so, I am sure that you will get full co-operation under the law from my solicitors."
He added: “If you decide, as a committee, that you would like to go down that course—clearly, you have to deliberate—and you serve that order on my solicitors, you will have the documentation on Monday morning.”
However, although the Committee has used its legal powers to obtain information held by the Crown Office, it recently knocked back Salmond’s suggestion.
Linda Fabiani, the committee convener, informed Salmond’s lawyer David McKie that it would not be “appropriate” to use its powers in this way.
In response, McKie wrote: “Our client cannot understand why a Parliamentary Committee does not wish to see relevant material which will help to fulfil its remit. The decision not to seek such relevant material, in fact, undermines your remit.”
He wrote that Salmond is “perplexed and disappointed” at the decision, adding:
“Unless you reconsider the Crown Office instruction on us not to provide it, your deliberations and conclusions will be based on incomplete evidence.
"Our client considers that to be a disservice to the Scottish public given the issues at stake and the Government’s own stated willingness to co-operate in full from the outset.”
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
