Crown sparked police investigation into MP's property deals within six days of receiving report

The Crown Office had to wait seven months for the Law Society to formally submit its full report on “alleged irregularities relating to property deals” which saw MP Michelle Thomson’s solicitor struck off for professional misconduct. It took just six days for it to then instruct Police Scotland to investigate.

The Law Society raised the case “informally” with the Crown Office “as part of a routine meeting” in December 2014 before referring it on a “formal” basis on 3 July 2015. Police Scotland was instructed to investigate on 9 July 2015.

Responding to questions from Holyrood over the period of time between a Tribunal which saw Chris Hales – Thomson’s solicitor – struck off and the Police Scotland investigation.

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A Crown Office spokesman said: "As part of routine meetings with the Law Society, the Crown Office was made aware of the finding of the disciplinary tribunal into the conduct of Christopher Hales. It was agreed following consideration of the redacted SSDT decision, which did not name his clients, that the Law Society would submit a fuller report and supporting documentation to Crown Office on the matter. This report, which named his clients for the first time, was received on 3rd July 2015. The instruction to Police Scotland was issued on 9 July 2015."

Thomson’s solicitor, Chris Hales, was struck off by the Law Society after a ruling by the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal in May 2014 – a year before Thomson became MP for Edinburgh West – after being found guilty of professional misconduct in carrying out property deals on behalf of Thomson and her business partner.

MP Michelle Thomson last night withdrew from the party whip and was automatically suspended from the SNP after Police Scotland confirmed it has launched an investigation into “alleged irregularities relating to property deals”. She now sits as an independent.

Thomson yesterday released a statement, saying: “I have always acted within the law and look forward to being cleared of any wrong doing.

She added: “Once the investigation is concluded I look forward to returning to play a full role in party activities.”  

Calling for a statement to Parliament by the Lord Advocate, Scottish Labour’s Jackie Baillie said: “There must be a full and thorough investigation into these allegations. The public would find it unacceptable if the establishment closed ranks to protect one of their own.

“We need a full statement in Parliament from the Lord Advocate. There are already concerns about how the Crown Office has handled this case. We need to know what action was taken when the Law Society of Scotland first 'informally' made the Crown Office aware of its concerns about Michelle Thomson's property deals in December 2014 and then formally in July 2015.”

Commenting yesterday, Lorna Jack, chief executive of the Law Society of Scotland said: “Our financial compliance team carried out a routine inspection of the firm Grigor Hales of Gorgie Road, Edinburgh in 2011 and as a result of our findings, in order to protect the public, we prosecuted Christopher Hales before the independent Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal (SSDT) because we believed he had not met the required professional standards of conduct. The case was heard before the tribunal in May 2014 and he was struck off as a solicitor for failing to adhere to Law Society and Council of Mortgage Lender requirements in relation to a number of mortgage transactions.

“The SSDT published its findings relating to Christopher Hales on its website in June 2014. The SSDT only publishes the name of the solicitor.

“We publish SSDT findings in our Journal magazine and Journalonline.co.uk. We published an article on the findings of the Christopher Hales case in July 2014.

“If the Law Society has concerns about any potential criminal matter arising from a SSDT finding, it will refer the matter to the appropriate authorities. In the case of Christopher Hales, we first raised this informally with the Crown Office in December 2014. And then our Guarantee Fund sub-committee referred it formally to the Crown Office in July 2015.”