ALEX Salmond has called on the Scottish Government to publish its legal advice it received over pressing ahead with challenging his successful judicial review.
Mr Salmond has indicated that the advice he was issued over the civil court case can be released and has called on the Scottish Government to follow his lead.
He has issued a statment through his lawyers to make the plea.
The statment said: "Mr Salmond has agreed to the Parliamentary Committee today releasing the written pleadings from his successful judicial review against the Scottish Government. In that Judicial Review, the court ruled in his favour and found the government had acted unlawfully, unfairly and that the process was tainted by apparent bias.
READ MORE: Alex Salmond demands judicial review legal advice published
“Mr Salmond has also instructed that the Committee be supplied with extensive documentation from the court proceedings including correspondence between this firm and the Scottish Government. He has agreed to that private legal advice being published, despite being under no legal obligation to do so. In return, Mr Salmond calls on the Scottish Government to publish the legal advice given to the Scottish Government on the prospects of successfully defending the judicial review.
“As the Committee has already made clear, the Scottish Government can choose to do so. There is nothing preventing that publication. Moreover, there is a clear and overwhelming public interest in the public having the opportunity to read and understand the advice which is said to have justified the Scottish Government spending sums significantly in excess of £500,000 of taxpayers’ money in defending this action.
“He also calls on the Scottish Government to produce all the relevant material from the judicial review which has thus far been held back from the committee.
“The correspondence produced by Mr Salmond shows that, from April 2018, we repeatedly told the Scottish Government that they were treating our client unfairly and were acting unlawfully. Our client offered first mediation and then arbitration in an attempt to prevent the Government acting unlawfully.
“His arguments were repeatedly dismissed and his offers were refused. The result of that intransigence was that our client was left with no option but to raise a court action. The documentation now produced demonstrates the numerous illegalities and obvious unfairness in the Government’s policy. Had the hearing been required, all of those arguments would have been advanced.
READ MORE: Salmond Inquiry: Scottish Government accused of 'incompetence'
“In early January, the government conceded the petition and agreed to pay our client’s costs. Mr Salmond also considers that in order to make substantive and meaningful submissions to the Committee, he requires to be able to make reference to a number of documents revealed to him and to which he alluded to after being acquitted of all charges in the High Court.
“In response, Crown Office has made clear that if he does so, even to a Parliamentary Committee, he is at risk of breaking the law. Mr Salmond therefore calls on the Lord Advocate, in the public interest, to allow him to place the relevant evidence before the Committee.”
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