A WOMAN who made a criminal complaint against Alex Salmond has today dismissed his claim as "utterly absurd" that her case was part of a conspiracy to bring him down.

But in a television interview she also hit out at both the Scottish Government and MSPs investigating the mishandling of complaints made against the former First Minister – and said it was now harder for women with concerns to come forward.

Asked about whether there was any merit in the claim there was a conspiracy against Salmond, the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: "It is utterly absurd to suggest that nine women could be persuaded to lie to the police, to perjure themselves in court. The truth is that we individually had experiences of Alex Salmond's behaviour."

Salmond stood trial at the High Court in Edinburgh in March last year on charges of sexual offences against nine women and was acquitted of all charges. His defence advocate Gordon Jackson suggested to the court the complaints were made as part of a plot to stop his return to frontline politics.

Salmond had earlier won an judicial review against the Scottish Government's after two women civil servants made complaints about his behaviour. The Court of Session ruled the process was unlawful, unfair and "tainted by apparent bias" and awarded him £500,000 in costs.

The Holyrood inquiry now entering its final stages was set up to establish what went wrong in the government's mishandling of the complaints and when and how the procedures for making complaints against ministers was drawn up.

The woman, whose voice and appearance were changed in the interview with BBC Scotland's Sunday Show, said the way the issue had been politicised by the Holyrood's inquiry into the Scottish Government's mishandling of the separate complaints, was "in many ways more traumatic than the criminal trial".

The committee has been beset by problems. Several senior civil servants have changed aspects of their statements and there have been ongoing rows between the committee and the government over access to officials and the legal advice given to the government about the judicial review. 

MSPs on the committee have also taken different views on the publication of Salmond's submission, despite large parts of it already being in the public domain.

She said: "What was a glimmer of hope in a committee thinking that they could be impartial, that they could properly investigate the government, that they could contribute towards ensuring that sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace was no longer an issue. Instead what has happened is they have taken your very personal experiences and they have exploited them for their own self-serving political interests. And that in and of itself is really traumatic."

Asked about the Scottish Government's mishandling of the complaints by the civil servants against Salmond, she said it was positive that it was willing to investigate those complaints, but said as a result of the complaints mishandling and subsequent events it was now harder for women to come forward.

Pressed on whether it was more or less likely that women would make complaints, she said: "Much less likely. This has made it much harder for women to be believed, for women to come forward."

She added: "I think the committee has strayed so far from its own remit that is has made any of its findings completely useless. They really had the opportunity to ensure they could investigate the creation of procedures that would make it safe and easy for women to come forward and they have made it significantly harder."

Linda Fabiani, the SNP MSP convener of the Holyrood committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints, said she was saddened to hear the woman's views.

She said: "I am really sorry that people feel that way, that women feel that way...I can only apologise for myself and can't apologise for anyone else, that's up to them."

Nicola Sturgeon could appear before the inquiry as early as this week, but is more likely to do so later this month, with Salmond potentially testifying this week.

The Holyrood inquiry report is expected in late March, just before the Scottish Parliament rises for May’s election.

A spokeswoman for Alex Salmond said: "Alex has been through two very lengthy and public legal processes, the first of which established that he had been treated unlawfully by the government and the second established his innocence on all charges.

"The Parliamentary Inquiry is not into alleged conduct on which he was cleared nearly a year ago, but is instead on the unlawful actions of the Government and its officials.

"His acquittal last March followed an exhaustive and comprehensive police and crown investigation and a lengthy trial before fifteen members of the public who heard and assessed all of the evidence. It is not for the BBC or indeed the Committee to question them.

"Alex continues to have great faith in the jury system and the Scottish courts . After Lady Dorrian publishes her written judgement, Alex looks forward to presenting his final evidence to the Committee and then seeing it published."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We welcome the opportunity which the parliamentary inquiry and the externally led review bring to address issues which have been raised, and which we have acknowledged.

"We are committed to a learning process and will ensure that lessons from these proceedings are fully recognised.

"The Scottish Government continues to support staff and discharge duty of care, including in relation to issues surrounding the Parliamentary committee.

"A range of support is available for anyone who should need it, and this has been communicated to staff."