LONDON (AP) — Scotland’s former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon defiantly rejected any blame Sunday for her estranged husband’s embezzlement of Scottish National Party funds, saying she wouldn’t apologize for his crimes.Sturgeon told the BBC that she felt betrayed by the actions of her husband, Peter Murrell, who last week pleaded guilty to stealing more than 400,000 pounds ($540,000) from the SNP to fund a lavish lifestyle when he was the party’s chief executive. She consistently denied having any knowledge of his crimes.“I am not responsible for the crimes that my former husband committed,’’ she told the BBC. “I’m not going to apologize for somebody else’s crimes.”Sturgeon’s comments came as she pushed back against widespread disbelief about her previous statements that she knew nothing about Murrell’s crimes. The case has heightened concerns about the accountability of U.K. politicians after a series of scandals that has eroded trust in government at all levels.
Many critics have also questioned why Murrell was allowed to remain chief executive of the SNP after Sturgeon became party leader in 2014. Sturgeon acknowledged that this was a mistake.
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“Of course, with hindsight, I wish that I could go back and take a different decision,” she said.Murrell’s plea capped a five-year police investigation of the SNP, which has led Scotland’s semiautonomous government for almost two decades while campaigning for the country to break away from the United Kingdom.
