Nicola Sturgeon misled a Holyrood committee investigating the handling of complaints against her predecessor Alex Salmond, a new report has said.
MSPs examining the Scottish Government's botched probe into allegations of harassment against Mr Salmond highlighted a "fundamental contradiction" in Ms Sturgeon's evidence on whether she agreed to intervene in the Scottish Government investigation into complaints by two woman against Mr Salmond.
The report by the Committee on the Scottish Government's Handling of Harassment Complaints said Ms Sturgeon "did in fact leave Mr Salmond with the impression that she would, if necessary, intervene" at a meeting at her Glasgow home on April 2 2018.
It added: "Her written evidence is therefore an inaccurate account of what happened, and she has misled the committee on this matter."
The cross-party inquiry said they "find it hard to believe" that Ms Sturgeon had "no knowledge of any concerns about inappropriate behaviour on the part of Mr Salmond prior to November 2017".
The report, published on Tuesday, said: "If she did have such knowledge, then she should have acted upon it.
"If she did have such knowledge, then she has misled the committee."
It also found that the probe into Mr Salmond had been "seriously flawed".
However SNP members of the committee disagreed with the finding that she misled the committee and the suggestion that she knew about Mr Salmond's conduct, saying it "does not distinguish between bullying behaviour and sexual harassment".
It comes after independent adviser James Hamilton found Ms Sturgeon had not broken the ministerial code in a separate report published on Monday.
The findings took the wind out of a proposed no-confidence vote led by the Scottish Tories, with the Scottish Greens saying they would not back it.
The cross-party committee was set up after Mr Salmond's successful legal challenge over a Scottish Government probe into allegations against him in 2019.
He was awarded a maximum payout of £512,250 after the Government conceded the case a week before it was due to be heard in court because of prior contact between investigating officer Judith Mackinnon and two of the women who made complaints.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney told BBC Radio Scotland: "I accept the conclusion of the report, that was agreed unanimously, which agreed that the best place to address if the First Minister had breached the Ministerial Code rests with James Hamilton, and he reported yesterday and cleared the First Minister of any wrongdoing."
He said Mr Hamilton's report had cleared the First Minister of any wrongdoing, adding: "That is the fundamental conclusion of his inquiry and puts to rest months and months of smear and innuendo towards the First Minister."
