Nicola Sturgeon has said she has not heard whether police wish to interview her or her husband as part of an investigation into SNP finances.
Police Scotland and the Crown Office continue to probe £600,000 raised by the SNP for independence campaigning after allegations on donations fraud.
The departing SNP leader said investigators had not been in touch about speaking to her or her husband Peter Murrell – the departing SNP chief executive – about the matter.
Asked if she had heard whether she or Mr Murrell will be interviewed by police, Scotland’s first minister told Sky News: “No.”
Ms Sturgeon added: “I wouldn’t comment on any ongoing police investigation and I am not going to comment on this one.”
The probe was launched in 2021 after it was alleged money had been diverted from a “ring-fenced” fund to fight a Scottish independence referendum – sparking the resignation of several senior people from the SNP ruling body.
The latest comments comes as SNP president Mike Russell admitted the party was in a “tremendous mess” after Mr Murrell’s shock resignation amid controversy over membership numbers.
The SNP’s membership figures were finally revealed on Thursday after all three candidates vying to replace Ms Sturgeon called for transparency. The party faithful had fallen by about 30,000 in just over a year.
SNP media chief Murray Foote quit, saying failure to give him accurate numbers had been a “serious impediment” to his role. And Fergus Mutch, former communications chief, suggested it would be a good idea to restart the leadership ballot for transparency.
Mr Russell, the SNP president who has stepped in temporarily to replace Mr Murrell,
admitted on Sunday said there is “a tremendous mess” in the party. “We have to clear it up, and that’s the task I’m trying to take on.”
Ms Sturgeon admitted the leadership contest to find her successor had been a “less than edifying process” – but also urged candidates not to “throw the baby out with the bathwater”.
She told Sky News: “I’m not suggesting that this is not a difficult process and at times, it has been a less than edifying process.”
In a message appeared to be aimed at contenders Kate Forbes and Ash Reagan, she said: “What I’d say to all of those standing to succeed me as leader … is remember that I am standing down from a party that hasn’t lost an election in Scotland since 2010.”
Kate Forbes said she still has confidence in process to find new SNP leader
Ms Sturgeon added: “This is a moment for refresh, renewal, change, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. We have the trust of the people of Scotland and we’ve got to make sure we retain that trust.”
Ms Forbes has said she still has confidence in the process to find a new leader and does not wish the contest to be rerun.
Asked how confident she is in the party’s ability to run the process through to the end, Ms Forbes told the BBC: “Very confident. I think that we’re at a place now where we need to get to the end over the next week.”
She added: “I obviously strongly believe that the events over the last few days – which have of course hurt, and I think bemused, a lot of SNP members, not least myself – have confirmed my calls from the very beginning of the contest, which is that we need change in the SNP.”
Humza Yousaf, seen as the continuity candidate, said the row over membership numbers is an “own goal”. Meanwhile, former SNP leader Alex Salmond told Times Radio: “Things have gone badly wrong in SNP headquarters.”
On the membership drop, he said the “key underlying factor is lack of progress in moving towards independence”, adding the transgender debate “alienated a substantial section of people who cared about women’s rights”.
