A spokesperson for Sturgeon said she had met the police by arrangement, in the knowledge that she would be arrested and interviewed.
“Nicola Sturgeon has today, Sunday 11 June, by arrangement with Police Scotland, attended an interview where she was to be arrested and questioned in relation to Operation Branchform,” the spokesperson said. “Nicola has consistently said she would cooperate with the investigation if asked, and continues to do so.”
Her husband, Peter Murrell, the former chief executive of the SNP, was arrested at their home in Uddingston near Glasgow on 5 April after plainclothes officers arrived without warning. He was interviewed under caution for nearly 12 hours before being released without charge.
The police searched their home and back garden, and also the SNP’s headquarters, under warrant, taking out boxes of documents and computers. A luxury motorhome parked outside Murrell’s mother’s house in Fife was also seized and impounded by police, as part of their investigation.
Colin Beattie MSP, then the party’s treasurer, was arrested and questioned as part of the same inquiry on 18 April and also released later without charge, pending further investigation.