Payment: Bidder paid £9000 for lunch with the First Minister at Holyrood. Pic: © STV
Demands for an independent sleaze inquiry have been made after Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon came under fire for auctioning lunches at Holyrood to raise SNP funds.
The First Minister and his deputy will both host lunches for four people at the Scottish Parliament's restaurant after being sold to the highest bidder at an event to boost the party's general election coffers.
Lunch with Ms Sturgeon raised £2000 while someone paid £9000 to dine with Mr Salmond. The cash is set to go towards the campaign of Osama Saeed, the party's candidate in the Glasgow Central seat at Westminster.
The party says it has broken no rules because the fundraiser was held outwith the Holyrood "campus" in a Glasgow restaurant.
However, opposition politicians have accused the party of 'cash for access' arguing that MSPs would normally only host dinners at the parliament when they are raising money for charity.
Just hours after information about the scandal was revealed, the Labour Party demanded an independent inquiry by sleaze watchdogs.
Former Secretary of State for Scotland Des Browne said: "These allegations are particularly serious. Salmond's parliamentary duties do not extend to using the Scottish Parliament restaurant to raise money for electing candidates.
"This is industrial-scale fundraising using parliamentary facilities and an abuse of public money. Cash for access demeans the office of First Minister.
"He must make a public statement about why he allowed himself to be placed in such an unwise position."
MSPs must abide by rules which state that the "parliamentary campus should only be used for events relating to a Member’s parliamentary duties.”
However, the lunches with Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon could fall into a grey area, as the fundraiser itself was held externally.
In 2007, Tory leader David Cameron was rebuked by the Westminster authorities for hosting lunches and granting access to his House of Commons office to party members who paid a £50,000 subscription to the party's leaders group.
He later issued an apology for the cash raising exercise and on Thursday, the Liberal Democrats said the scandal should have been a lesson to other politicians.
The party's Chief Whip at Holyrood, Mike Rumbles, said: "Scottish Ministers should not be available to the highest bidder.
"I'd have thought that Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon would have learned from David Cameron's cash for access scandal."
"We've worked hard in the Scottish Parliament to be as open and transparent as possible and we look to our most senior ministers to set an example."
The SNP auction was held at a fundraising dinner for Mr Saeed at the Kabana restaurant in Ms Sturgeon's Govan constituency. Guests paid £15 each for a ticket with the lunches making the most money from bidders.
An SNP spokesperson said: “Lunch with parliamentarians has been a fundraising opportunity across the parties for many years, and is not contrary to any current parliamentary rules.
"An obvious requirement is that the MSPs concerned pay for the lunch, which takes place in a public space. And all donations to the SNP are publicly declared in the normal way.”
The event was organised by the Scots Asians for Independence group and was attended by around 200 people from Glasgow's Asian community.
Mr Saeed, chief executive of the Scottish-Islamic Foundation, is standing in a key seat for the SNP. Glasgow Central overlaps with Nicola Sturgeon's Holyrood constituency and the party is hoping to build upon her Scottish election success.
The Deputy First Minister is also under attack over her support for a fraudster.
