Sunday 26 November 2023
The World This Week From Mennies comes to you from Bruni
This week has been a watermark in Scottish politics and in fact Scottish history, with the announcement that Alex Salmond has served notice on the Scottish government that he is to address their collusion in the conspiracy to bring him down, thankfully unsuccessfully.
Here is the statement made by Alex Salmond and his legal team in regard to the action in the court of session.
Hopefully this will lead to proper justice being being done and a very black episode one the legal history of Scotland being expunged.
STATEMENTS FROM ALEX SALMOND AND HIS LAWYER IN THIS CASE, MR GORDON DANGERFIELD, ON THE CALLING IN THE COURT OF SESSION TODAY OF HIS LEGAL ACTION AGAINST THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT.
Posted on 24 November 2023
The purpose of these initial statements is to explain the basis of the civil action now that it has been called. As Mr Salmond indicates, the intention going forward is to present arguments in court.
Alex Salmond said;
“Throughout this tawdry business I have done my talking in court or in front of Parliament. That has resulted in victory in the Court of Session and being cleared of all charges in the High Court of Justiciary. I intend to continue with that practice.
Despite Lord Pentland’s findings in the Court of Session that the behaviour of the former Permanent Secretary and her officials was “unlawful”, “unfair” and “tainted by apparent bias”, despite the ongoing police and crown office enquiries into the criminal leaks and potential perjury at the criminal trial, despite the astonishing revelations of misfeasance contained in the eventual publication of the government’s own legal advice, and despite the specific findings of the Parliamentary Inquiry into the conduct of the former Permanent Secretary and the former First Minister, not one single person has been held accountable. With this court action that evasion of responsibility ends.
We have agreed to the sisting of proceedings to allow the criminal investigations into leaking and perjury to be completed. However, the calling of the action signals that the day of reckoning for the Scottish Government’s record of misfeasance on this grand scale will inevitably come.”
Mr Salmond’s lawyer, Gordon Dangerfield, said;
“This is an action of misfeasance in public office in which we aver that public officials of the Scottish Government conducted themselves improperly, in bad faith and beyond their powers, with the intention of injuring Mr Salmond. The public officials and Ministers named in our action include, among others, the former Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans, the former Chief of Staff Liz Lloyd and the former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
“We aver that public officials decided at an early stage that Mr Salmond was to be found guilty of allegations against him, regardless of the actual facts. As events snowballed, we aver that public officials then took part in the criminal leaking of confidential documents, the concealment of documents in defiance of court orders and a criminal warrant, the misleading of the court during judicial review proceedings, the soliciting of false criminal complaints, and ultimately the commission of perjury at a parliamentary inquiry. All of this, we aver, was done for political reasons, and specifically to injure Mr Salmond.
“Many documents which are relevant to these averments continue to be concealed by the Scottish Government despite repeated requests for disclosure of them over the course of the last year since this action was first raised. We aver that this refusal to disclose is a continuation of the misfeasance which began more than five years ago. A major aim of Mr Salmond in bringing this action is to obtain disclosure of this vital evidence and to blow apart the Scottish Government cover-up which has gone on now for far too long.
Bob Costello 