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| - First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is facing questions under oath in a hearing about her handling of a sexual harassment case against her predecessor and former mentor Alex Salmond, the Scottish government said on Wednesday. A cross-party inquiry is looking into claims from Salmond that senior figures in the devolved adminstration in Edinburgh and the Scottish National Party (SNP) orchestrated sexual offence claims against him. Salmond, 65, was acquitted of attempted rape and a string of sexual assaults after an 11-day trial at the High Court in Edinburgh in March this year. The inquiry, which will sit weekly from next month, was set up after the Scottish government admitted last year that it mishandled an internal inquiry into misconduct claims against Salmond made by two female civil servants. The Scottish government agreed to pay Salmond more than £500,000 ($620,000, 550,000 euros) to cover his legal costs for the judicial review in the case. SNP leader Sturgeon, her husband Peter Murrell, who is SNP chief executive, and Salmond are listed among the witnesses in a document outlining the scope of the inquiry published on Wednesday. The Committee on Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints said it would seek written evidence first, "with a view to inviting a selection of these individuals to give oral evidence". Others listed to provide testimony include Sturgeon's chief of staff, Salmond's former chief of staff, and several senior civil servants. The committee's remit is to address "what the process was in conducting the investigation" into Salmond, "who conducted it, who took final decisions on the outcome of the investigation". Sturgeon said recently there was "no conspiracy" against Salmond and that she would elaborate on the matter in the future. As first minister, Salmond led the SNP into its unsuccessful 2014 campaign for independence, and is one of Britain's most recognisable politicians. Since stepping down to make way for Sturgeon, he has worked as a chatshow host on Russia Today. But rumours have swirled that he is eyeing a political comeback, which could exacerbate tensions and factional infighting in the SNP just as it seeks to capitalise on a surge in popularity. Sturgeon is pushing the UK government in London for permission to hold a second independence vote because Scotland voted in favour of remaining in the European Union in a seismic 2016 referendum. She argues that has changed the "material circumstances" of the three-centuries-old union with the rest of the United Kingdom, which left the EU in January this year. srg/phz/lc
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