A close aide to under-fire SNP deputy leader Stewart Hosie is still receving his full salary four months after being suspended for allegedly sending racist text messages.
Craig Melville, who is being probed by prosecutors as well as his employers, was suspended on full pay from the Dundee East MP’s office in January following allegations he sent a barrage of abusive messages to a female SNP colleague.
But an internal disciplinary meeting has still not been held into the claims, allowing him to take home taxpayers’ cash for doing nothing.
In a separate incident, Melville was given a police warning in January after an alleged assault at the SNP parliamentary office in Old Glamis Road, Dundee, in 2014.
A senior SNP figure has reservations about the way the situation is being handled. The source told The Courier: “It doesn’t sit comfortably with me.”
The revelation that Mr Hosie’s aide Melville is still receiving taxpayers’ cash comes after days of lurid headlines over the Dundee East MP’s alleged trysts with Westminster writer and former actress Serena Cowdy.
Fellow Nationalist MP Angus MacNeil is also embroiled in the “love-triangle” sex scandal, who was previously involved with the same woman.
The marriage break-up between Mr Hosie and health secretary Shona Robison, who represents the same constituency for Holyrood, was revealed by The Courier on Monday.
Melville, who resigned as Maryfield councillor in February, was charged by police last month over the texts, who then handed a report to the procurator fiscal.
A spokeswoman for the Crown Office said the report is still under consideration.
Melville is suspended from Mr Hosie’s office, as well as the party, while the alleged gross misconduct is being investigated. He is being paid his “normal pay rate”.
The Courier understands a disciplinary meeting is due to be held in the near future following an investigation into Melville’s conduct.
An SNP source said he is “as good as not working for us”.
An SNP spokesman said they are following employment rules on investigating alleged gross misconduct, which are laid out by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.
He added: “Disciplinary procedures are governed by House of Commons rules and Craig Melville remains suspended subject to completion of those.”
MPs outside of London get £141,400 a year to spend on staff, who help them with functions like research, constituency casework and admin support.
Latest records at the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority show Mr Hosie employs 11 part-time staff at a total cost of £133,017.64, which works out at an average salary per worker of just over £12,000 a year.
Melville was unavailable for comment.
