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Multi-millionaire businessman and rock star Paul McManus will underwrite the cost of a legal action against the Scottish Government over its persecution and secret plotting against the late SNP leader Alex Salmond.
The trustee of Mr Salmond’s estate has assigned the claim to Mr McManus and it is he who will now sue the government. In Scots Law, an assignation is simply the transfer of a legal right from one person or organisation to another.
Mr McManus said: “I did not know the late Alex Salmond, and I disagreed with his politics, especially on the matter of Scottish independence. However, I strongly believe that those at the top of the SNP plotted against him and used levers of state which could have resulted in him being wrongly imprisoned.
“If the government, can do this to one of their own, what chance do we, Joe Public, have if they decide to target us. I want to see those responsible held to account and to face consequences.”
Work has been progressing for several months led by solicitor advocate Professor Peter Watson of PBW Law and partners Michael McKitrick and Pamela Rodgers.
Professor Watson said: “Litigation is a remedy of last resort, but it is hoped that this litigation will result in answers to many troubling questions that were first asked by Alex Salmond and will now be pursued by Paul McManus and the team we have assembled.”
The counsel team working on the case comprises Kenny McBrearty KC (senior counsel), Ewen Campbell (Advocate) and Darren Cox (Advocate) plus two junior counsel.
An integral part of the discussions and liaison with the Salmond family has been Fergus Ewing, Independent MSP for Inverness and Nairn, and a lifelong friend of Alex and Moira Salmond.
A lawyer by profession, Mr Ewing has constantly been at odds with his former SNP colleagues over their harassment of Mr Salmond.
Fergus Ewing said: “When Alex Salmond defeated the Scottish Government in the Court of Session the judge, Lord Pentland, found that their actions were ‘tainted by apparent bias’. Reacting to the defeat, the then Permanent Secretary, Leslie Evans, believing no doubt her remarks would never be made public, texted another senior official stating ‘we lost the battle but will win the war’.
“From these comments by the man who is now Lord President, Scotland’s most senior judge, and the woman who was then head of the Scottish civil service, it is inferred that, to paraphrase Shakespeare, ‘there was something rotten in the state of Scotland’.
“I believe it will become clear and proven that there was nothing less than a concerted campaign to destroy Alex Salmond and until the whole truth is finally made public, a dark shadow of deceit and of the malicious and calculated hounding of Scotland’s former leader, hangs over Scotland and us all.
“When he was with us, I worked with him and others to expose the truth. That fight now continues led by the strongest of legal teams. They will, in their work in pursuing that legal action, seek to uncover the truth and lift that shadow. The quest is to seek justice not only for Alex, Moira, his family and so many dear friends – but for the sake of Scotland and for every man and woman in the land.”
Scottish PR boss Jack Irvine, executive chairman of Media House International was instrumental in bringing the participants together. Media House and Irvine will continue to support the case, and he will be assisted by his senior consultant, former Scotsman editor and Edinburgh councillor, John McLellan.
