Prosecutors have secured a court order that prevents Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband Peter Murrell from selling his property.
The ban was put in place after the former SNP chief executive was charged in connection with embezzlement in April last year after a police investigation into the party’s finances.
In May, detectives handed a file to prosecutors detailing accusations spanning a seven-year period levelled against Mr Murrell.
Now it can be disclosed that in June the Crown Office was granted a restraint by the courts which puts a block on the former SNP chief’s ability to sell or draw down on properties.
Details of the ban emerged just days after Ms Sturgeon confirmed her marriage to Mr Murrell had ended.
In a statement on Instagram, she wrote: ‘To all intents and purposes we have been separated for some time now and feel it is time to bring others up to speed with where we are.’
However, the pair continue to live under the same roof in the marital home in Uddingston, Glasgow.
Public records show prosecutors were granted an ‘inhibition’ order on Mr Murrell via the Court of Session, which is often handed down to people suspected of financial crime or impropriety.
Nicola Sturgeon met Peter Murrell at an SNP youth event in 1988 and got together in 2003
A ‘registration for inhibition’ can also be applied to people who are bankrupt, are facing bankruptcy or who have unpaid debts.
It stops the recipient from selling property or taking out further loans on existing investments – and lets the public know about people who cannot ‘competently enter into voluntary property transactions’.
The Uddingston property was part of a dramatic police raid in April 2023 which saw officers set up a large forensics tent in the front garden.
It was reported that same year that Mr Murrell also owned a half-share of a holiday home in Portugal with his sister, Lynn.
The whitewashed two-bedroom villa is located a few hundred yards from one of Algarve’s most scenic beaches, within an exclusive gated community near Albufeira.
Locals told how Mr Murrell and Ms Sturgeon enjoyed drinking gin and tonics at the local bar before their meals.
It is not believed that an inhibition order would extend to property owned abroad.
The Operation Branchform probe, launched in May 2021, is focused on how money raised in 2017 and 2019 as part of a ‘referendum appeal’ has been used.
The estranged couple’s house in Uddingston, Glasgow, was raided amid Operation Branchform
Ms Sturgeon and former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie were arrested amid the investigation, but later released without charge.
The former First Minister met her husband at an SNP youth event in 1988 but they didn’t get together until 2003. They wed in 2010 in Glasgow.
After the news broke that they had separated last week, the Daily Mail revealed how Ms Sturgeon had been spending time at a luxury £320,000 flat owned by her close friend, the crime writer Val McDermid.
Pictures showed her leaving the property in Edinburgh’s upmarket New Town as her relationship with Mr Murrell broke down.
Ms Sturgeon and Ms McDermid have had a long friendship, with the book-loving politician often heaping praise on the works of the former journalist.
Ms McDermid, who is best known for her detective novels, has appeared on stage with Ms Sturgeon at book festivals.
A spokesman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said: ‘It would not be appropriate to comment in detail on steps taken by the Crown during an investigation.
‘Court actions must be registered in the name of the Lord Advocate and that reflects a constitutional position and not personal involvement.’
Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain, KC, the head of the Crown Office and the Scottish Government’s top legal adviser, recused herself from any role in the SNP finance probe.
The Crown Office added: ‘The investigation into SNP finances is being handled by professional prosecutors from COPFS and independent counsel without the involvement of the Lord Advocate or Solicitor General.’
