“I refute these two complaints of harassment and absolutely reject any suggestion of criminality,” Salmond said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that he was resigning so as not to “facilitate opposition attacks on the SNP.”

Salmond was a member of the SNP for 45 years, 20 of them as the party leader and seven as the First Minister of Scotland.

The SNP had never received any complaints about his conduct, and the Scottish government only received a complaint this January, years after he left office, Salmond said. Putting his successor at the helm of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon, to suspend him would have caused a rift within the party and opened it up to political attacks, he added.

READ MORE Salmond tells RT he's headed to 'highest court in the land' over govt's handling of harassment case

DETAILS TO FOLLOW