Alex Salmond says complainant's name was shared with his former chief of staff

Alex Salmond has told a Holyrood inquiry that the name of a complainant was shared with his former chief of staff.

The former first minister has been giving evidence to the committee investigating the Scottish Government's handling of complaints against him.

Scottish Labour's Jackie Baillie raised the matter of the confidentiality of complainants and said: "This is an issue that arose in the context of one of the meetings held with the former chief of staff, Geoff Aberdein, that was a precursor to your meetings with Nicola Sturgeon.

"Do you know whether the name of a complainant was shared at one of those meetings?"

Salmond replied: "Yes", which prompted a further question from Baillie, who asked: "Can I ask you how you know that? Because obviously we are interested in evidence being corroborated at this committee."

Salmond then said: "Because my former chief of staff told me that."

When asked if any other people were party to that information, Salmond said: "As far as I am aware, and you'd have to ask the people concerned, but as far as I am aware there are three other people who know that to be true."

Baillie said the committee had written to the people in question.

The issue was raised at First Minister's Questions yesterday by both Baillie and Willie Rennie, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

Following an exchange between Sturgeon and Baillie, Rennie asked: "Jackie Baillie has just made a very serious point about the handling of the name of a complainant over to Alex Salmond’s chief of staff, so just to be clear, is the First Minister saying categorically that that did not happen - that the name of a complainant was not passed on to the former chief of staff of Alex Salmond before the meeting on the 2 April?"

Sturgeon answered: "To the very best of my knowledge, I do not think that happened."

The parliamentary inquiry is looking into the conduct of the government following two harassment complaints made against the former first minister, which led to the process being deemed “unlawful” and over £500,000 being paid in legal expenses.