Peter Murrell, the husband of Scotland’s former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, was arrested on Wednesday (Apr 5) as part of a police investigation into the finances of their Scottish National Party (SNP), UK media reported.

Peter Murrell, 58, was the SNP’s chief executive for nearly 25 years until he quit last month.

In a statement, Police Scotland said they had taken a 58-year-old man into custody for questioning over the party’s “funding and finances”.

“Officers are also carrying out searches at a number of addresses as part of the investigation,” the police force said, without naming the man.

The BBC and other media said he was Murrell, who has been facing questions over the alleged disappearance of £600,000 (S$992,982) in donations to the party, and over a personal loan of more than £100,000 that he gave it.

Murrell resigned from his SNP leadership post after the party falsely denied to media that it had lost 30,000 members.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

The revelation came as it held a bitter election to replace Sturgeon as leader and first minister.

Sturgeon said in February that she lacked the “energy” to carry on and that she would step down after eight years at the helm. She was succeeded as SNP leader and first minister by Humza Yousaf. AFP