NICOLA STURGEON HAS told reporters at Holyrood she could not have anticipated the events Scotland’s SNP has faced in the police investigation into its finances in her “worst nightmares”.

The former first minister appeared in public at the Scottish Parliament today for the first time since her husband Peter Murrell was arrested on 5 April before being released without charge pending further investigation.

The party’s treasurer Colin Beattie was arrested last week in the same police probe then also released without charge pending further investigation.

Sturgeon said: “What I will say up front is that I’m not going to go into any detail that impinges on a live police investigation, there are many questions that I would want to be able to answer and in the fullness of time I hope I will answer, but it would be wrong and inappropriate for me to go into any detail of what the police are currently investigating.

“I understand the view that some people might have, that I knew this was all about to unfold and that’s why I walked away.

Nothing could be further from the truth. I could not have anticipated in my worst nightmares what would have unfolded over the past few weeks.”

She said “now is not the easiest time”, and she has been working from home recently.

Asked if she has been questioned by police, she said: “No.”

Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon describes "frustration" over not being able to give her version of events on SNP finances.

"I could not have anticipated in my worst nightmares what would've unfolded over the past few weeks."https://t.co/I3GxCydT7n pic.twitter.com/STiK17DBP0

— BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) April 25, 2023

Her comments come after Beattie said he did not know a £100,000 motorhome was bought by the party.

Beattie, who remains an SNP MSP, spoke to journalists at Holyrood today for the first time since being arrested last week.

He stepped down as treasurer following his arrest.

As part of their investigation, police have seized a Niesmann + Bischoff campervan.

The vehicle was bought by the party but apparently never used.

Speaking today, Beattie was asked if he knew about the purchase of the motorhome.

He replied: “No I didn’t know about it.”

He also denied that the SNP is in financial difficulty, insisting: “The SNP is in the black.”

Asked if the party is “not going bust”, Beattie said: “We’re a going concern, definitely.”

Beattie went on to say that the SNP’s difficulty in finding auditors is due to the “market situation”.

He made no comment when asked if he should be suspended from the SNP following his arrest, but said he has “no plans at the moment” to resign from Holyrood’s Economy and Fair Work Committee, adding that he believes he is a “fit and proper person” to serve on it.

The MSP was also asked if his arrest was the worst thing which has ever happened to him.

He replied: “No, I was in Beirut actually when I was under artillery fire.

“That was worse.”

Later today, the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn was asked about the motorhome as he spoke at an Institute for Government event in London.

He said he became aware of the purchase “when it was printed on the front of a newspaper”.