Nicola Sturgeon has rubbished claims by Alex Salmond of a plot to bring him down.
Speaking at the Holyrood Inquiry, the First Minister said she had seen nothing that “comes within a million miles” of any conspiracy allegations.
A Holyrood committee is investigating her Government’s 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 and cost the taxpayer over £600,000, had been unlawful.
He was also charged with sexual offences and acquitted after a trial.
Salmond gave evidence last week and accused his successor of misleading parliament over his meetings with her during the live probe.
He also alleged that senior SNP figures, including Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell and her chief of staff Liz Lloyd, plotted to have him imprisoned.
Giving evidence to the Inquiry, Sturgeon hit out at suggestions of a conspiracy relating to the criminal case.
She said: “To this day, I don’t know the identity of every single complainer in the criminal trial.
“Some of those whose identities I do know, I don’t know them well.
“To the best of my knowledge, they don’t all know each other well.
“The idea this was some concoction or plot is just not based on any semblance of fact or any semblance of credible evidence.”
Speaking about messages sent by various people within the party, she said they showed “people supporting each other, people talking to each other”.
She added there was “a bit of gossip about what was going on”, saying: “This was a massive thing for the SNP, particularly for people who had worked closely with him.”
But she stressed that people in the SNP were co-operating with police, saying: “Some of what has been misrepresented as trying to find or concoct evidence is actually people co-operating with the police at their request.
“I have seen nothing that comes within a million miles of backing up that central assertion Alex was making, that there was some kind of co-ordinated attempt, for whatever motive, and the motive seems to be on shifting sands as well, I have seen nothing that comes within a million miles of demonstrating that.”
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