A luxury motorhome worth more than £100,000 belonging to the SNP has never been insured by the party, insiders have claimed. The Niesmann+Bischoff campervan sat outside the home of Nicola Sturgeon’s mother-in-law for the last two years.
Sources close to the probe into SNP finances said the plush motorhome, worth an estimate £110,000 and revealed last week to have been bought from a dealer in Stafford, near Birmingham, had never been insured.
One told the Sunday Mail: “It raises questions about the SNP’s story that it was for campaigning.
“If that was the case, surely, it would have been insured in case the party wanted to use it.”
Party sources have previously said the motorhome was intended to function as a campaign battle bus in the run-up to the 2021 Holyrood election with the country was in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic.
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However, as the restrictions were gradually eased, it was no longer needed, and since 2021 has been parked in the driveway of ex-SNP Chief Executive Peter Murrell’s mother.
The vehicle was seized from the Dunfermline property on April 5 – the same day which Mr Murrell, who has been married to Sturgeon for 13 years, was arrested and the house he shares with the ex-First Minister Nicolas Sturgeon was raided by police.
He was subsequently released without charge.
The police probe, dubbed Operation Branchform, is also looking at more than 1,000 transactions on Amazon, the purchase of expensive cookware and pricey pens, and officers have been hunting for unregistered sim cards.
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A Scottish Labour spokesman said: “The campervan story – flimsy as it was – continues to unravel for the SNP.
“The public deserve answers about what exactly this party thought they were up to.”
An SNP spokesman said: “These issues are subject to a live police investigation.
“The SNP have been cooperating fully with this investigation and will continue to do so.
“However, it is not appropriate to publicly address these issues during this time.”
