The Telegraph report:
The First Minister spent £259.40 on the trousers for a black tie ball he attended in China in December 2011 but did not pay back the money on his return to Scotland.
He only decided to reimburse the taxpayer after this newspaper tabled a request under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act in March this year that would have disclosed the purchase.
But it required a seven-month tussle with the Scottish Government and two inquiries by the FOI watchdog before his officials confirmed the money had been paid back after, not before, this newspaper’s intervention.