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| - Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Wednesday defended her handling of sexual assault claims against her predecessor, in a case that has erupted into a full-blown crisis for the country's independence movement and prompted calls for her to resign. The leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) vehemently denied claims that she misled the parliament in Edinburgh about when she knew of the claims against former leader Alex Salmond. A parliamentary committee is probing the government's handling of the complaints, including claims of interference in the process to discredit Salmond. In a full day of evidence, Sturgeon said it was "absolutely right" the complaints, which first surfaced in 2018 in the wake of the #MeToo movement, were investigated. "As first minister I refused to follow the age-old pattern of allowing a powerful man to use his status and connections to get what he wants," she told lawmakers. But she said she was not involved in the process, given her position as first minister, and as Salmond's former close political ally and personal friend. "It may very well be that I didn't get everything right -- that's for others to judge," she said. "But in one of the most invidious political and personal situations I have ever faced, I believe I acted properly and appropriately and that overall, I made the best judgement I could." She added: "While the government made mistakes... there is nothing here that the government has to hide." Salmond -- one of Britain's most recognisable political figures -- was cleared of all charges at a criminal trial last year, and claimed the accusations against him were politically motivated. He has accused Sturgeon of a failure of leadership, saying he believed she breached the ministerial code that governs behaviour and conduct. Under scrutiny is her meeting with Salmond's former chief of staff in March 2018 when she is said to have first been told of the allegations. She initially told parliament she only learned of the claims from Salmond himself a few days later, then she maintained she had "forgotten" about the first meeting. She has since faced calls to step down from opposition parties for misleading parliament. Before the criminal trial, a civil court found the government investigation into the complaints was unlawful and "tainted by apparent bias", and awarded Salmond more than £500,000 ($699,000) in legal costs. Salmond has accused Sturgeon and her administration of wasting public money fighting the civil proceedings challenging the complaints procedure, despite legal advice that it was doomed. Under pressure, the government reluctantly published the legal advice late Tuesday. The explosive row is a spectacular falling out between Sturgeon and Salmond, casting a shadow over the SNP's prospects at elections in May as the party steps up calls for a second referendum on Scottish independence. Sturgeon's SNP allies have accused opposition parties, particularly the pro-union Scottish Conservatives of electioneering before the polls. Sturgeon and Salmond are two of the independence movement's biggest names, and the row has laid bare factional fighting within the SNP, as well as continued support for Salmond. The 66-year-old stepped down as first minister in 2014 after Scots rejected independence in a first referendum. Last week he accused Sturgeon, her government, senior SNP figures including her husband Peter Murrell, and prosecuting authorities of conspiring against him. But Sturgeon rejected as "absurd" the suggestion that "anyone acted with malice or as part of a plot" against him. "I had no motive, intention, desire to get Alex Salmond," she said, saying there was "zero evidence" of that. Sturgeon, 50, has won plaudits for her stewardship of the response to the coronavirus pandemic and Scottish discontent over the UK's Brexit withdrawal from the European Union. But British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly refused to sanction a new vote, after Scots voted in 2014 to remain part of the United Kingdom. srg-jit-phz/pma
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