The justice secretary must clarify whether he misled parliament, and whether he took legal advice before making an intervention in the decision to allow Chief Constable Phil Gormley to return to work, according to the Scottish Conservatives.
In a letter to Michael Matheson, Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr has called for transparency after former SPA Chairman Andrew Flanagan confirmed this week that the SNP minister had made ‘a value judgement on the case’ in their first meeting following the decision.
That directly contradicts Matheson’s insistence he only intervened in the process, not the substance.
And in a subsequent meeting Mr Flanagan said that the justice secretary had changed his position, and only questioned matters of process.
The change in tactics raises the possibility that Matheson made a value judgment, only to then take legal advice and change course at the second meeting.
But Matheson refused to answer whether he had taken legal advice when questioned earlier this week.
Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr MSP said:
“Throughout this entire saga we have been calling for more clarity, yet the SNP have refused to provide answers.
“The evidence we heard this week showed that Michael Matheson originally complained about the substance of the decision, only to change tack and start questioning the process of it. That flatly contradicts what he told MSPs.
“And the switch implies that he had taken legal advice between meetings, yet when asked in Parliament if he’d taken legal advice, he refused to answer.
“If he originally intervened on substance, then he has misled parliament. If he did take legal advice and u-turned, he has misled parliament twice.
“This case is getting murkier and murkier, and it’s time we heard some facts from the justice secretary.