Natalie McGarry, a former SNP MP convicted on a 20-month sentence for embezzling £25,000 from pro-independence groups, has coughed up just £66.36 – despite benefitting £55,000 from general criminal conduct. Fiscal depute Brian Duffy said that was “the only amount available to Miss McGarry towards the confiscation order.” Admittedly her lawyer did warn the court back in March that amount of cash she could hand over was “essentially nil”…
Her defence said today that while she still maintains her innocence, she will hand over the enormous fine within a month:
“There is an agreed benefit figure for general criminal conduct which is £55,870 and there is an agreed available amount of £66.36. There is an agreed joint minute that you make a confiscation order for £66.36 and that will be paid to the sheriff’s clerk within one month of today… There are statutory presumptions that she accepts applies to her. She is unable to vouch for these amounts that went into her account over a period of 10 years. She accepts she is unable to rebut the statutory presumptions.”
Where’s the Bank of Humza Yousaf when you need it…
A former SNP MP, convicted on a 20-month sentence for embezzling £25,000 from pro-independence groups, has said she won’t be able to cough up cash for confiscation. Natalie McGarry – who was previously bailed out by Humza Yousaf – faced a proceeds of crime hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court, where prosecutors were requesting £130,000. Responding to the Crown’s plan for a fourth statement of information, McGarry’s defence said “the available amount [for confiscation] is essentially nil.”
A new date has been set for early April, as McGarry has been ordained to appear in the meantime. If Natalie can’t pay up, and assuming Humza is otherwise occupied, Guido’s sure someone in the SNP could sort her out with a loan…
Natalie McGarry, former SNP MP elected in 2015, but booted out of the party shortly later after she was charged with a number of fraud offences. She was found to have embezzled more than £25,600 from pro-independence organisations in Scotland, and has been jailed for 18 months. Shame there was an election in 2017, otherwise we could have been looking forward to another fun by-election…
Suspended SNP MP Natalie McGarry has been charged by the police in connection with alleged fraud offences. Och.
UPDATE: The charges are for embezzlement and breach of trust.
Readers will remember Natalie McGarry, the SNP MP who resigned the whip amid a police probe into her campaign’s financial irregularities. She’s the one who was questioned by Turkish special forces for recording the sound of bombs falling in Syria on her mobile. Not the brightest hope of the 2015 intake.
Today McGarry has agreed to pay £10,000 to charity for wrongly branding a unionist a “Holocaust denier”. She has apologised on her Twitter account:
Part of the agreement is that McGarry must ‘pin’ the apology to the top of her Twitter account for all to see for the next fortnight. Yet her account is locked, so at the moment her mea culpa is being kept hidden from the public. Classy…
H/T @camusson, @camusson
Former SNP MP Natalie McGarry – now sitting as an independent after resigning the whip in disgrace – has apparently been arrested in Turkey. Local journalists say she was detained in the Sur district of Diyarbakir by Turkish Special Forces. McGarry is a pro-Kurdish campaigner who has been critical of the Turkish government.
Local reports suggest pro-Kurdish Glasgow MP @NatalieMcGarry has been detained upon her arrival in Diyarbakir, Turkey
— Josie Ensor (@Josiensor) February 25, 2016
https://twitter.com/harunercan_/status/702862968250351616
She’s already facing a police probe in Scotland over a missing money scandal. More as we get it…
UPDATE: Her office are refusing to comment on reports she was arrested, though she has now tweeted to say she is “safe“:
https://twitter.com/NatalieMcGarry/status/702871051613691904
UPDATE II: Foreign Office confirms to Sky News that McGarry was arrested by Turkish special forces, her office say she has now been released.
UPDATE III: McGarry’s lawyer says in a statement:
“Natalie McGarry was questioned earlier today but was released shortly thereafter… It appears that a member of the Turkish Security Forces became alarmed as Natalie had her mobile phone out at a security checkpoint. She was taken away for questioning and it was subsequently explained that she was simply recording the sounds of bombs falling across the border in Syria.”
