THE SECRET list of donors that showed Wendy Alexander's team knew four weeks ago about a legally suspect donation from a Jersey tycoon was sent directly from the Labour leader's office.

The Sunday Herald understands the list of fundraisers was circulated by her office using the parliamentary email system - a link that ties Alexander to the document.

It also suggests the Labour leader's campaign was using MSP facilities for party fundraising purposes - an activity that is explicitly against Holyrood rules.

The revelation comes as Alexander faces a disciplinary probe after the parliament's Standards Commissioner, Dr Jim Dyer, received a complaint about her non-disclosure of donations on her MSP's register of interests.

Alexander managed to avoid declaring any of her donors to Holyrood after each contribution was sent to her campaign, rather than to the leader herself. This has prompted an SNP researcher to call on Dyer to investigate Alexander's failure to register the donations.

The researcher's letter to the standards commissioner states: "Given that Ms Alexander was the donee for a number of payments of more than £520, I believe she may have breached regulations on receipt and declaration of gifts."

The move follows Alexander's admission that her campaign to become Labour's Holyrood leader was partly financed by an illegal £950 donation from Jersey tax exile Paul Green.

Alexander's campaign team defended her by saying she first knew the donation was a personal, rather than a corporate, contribution, on November 29. However, last week this newspaper revealed that Alexander's secret donor list, dated November 5, included Green's Jersey address in the column reserved for the purpose of Electoral Commission registration.

The document, which listed Alexander's husband Brian Ashcroft as its "author", also questioned the legality of the donation. In other words, Team Alexander was aware of the donation's dodgy status weeks ago.

The list also revealed that four members of Team Alexander - Tom McCabe, treasurer David Whitton, Pauline McNeill and Jackie Baillie - were listed as "contacts" for pulling in donations of £995, or £5 less than the minimum requiring public registration.

The Sunday Herald now understands the secret donor list was circulated from Alexander's office on the parliamentary email system. The revelation makes it difficult for the Labour leader to argue that she was not aware of the document's contents.

The parliament's MSPs' Allowances Code makes clear that publicly funded facilities should not be used for party ends, laying down that "Parliamentary stationery and office equipment must not be used for party purposes." It adds: "Premises, or the relevant part of premises, acquired as Parliamentary offices, shall not be used as a base for canvassing or election campaigning, or any party activity related to elections."

The revelations in last week's issue of the Sunday Herald are believed to have led Alexander to consider resigning, a decision that was avoided after she received supportive phone calls from the prime pinister and her brother Douglas, the secretary of state for international development.

Alexander instead put out a statement in which she insisted there had been no "intentional" wrongdoing on her part. Her week then involved dealing with the numerous political tremors that followed the initial Green revelations.

On Tuesday, Green's accusation that Team Alexander was guilty of "gross mismanagement" seemed to complement a weekend of shocking headlines. But hours later, Alexander read out a well-received statement to the media at Holyrood and took questions from the press.

In particular, her revelation that correspondence existed between her and Charlie Gordon, in which she had questioned the Green donation, which the Glasgow Cathcart MSP had solicited, strengthened her position.

On Thursday, a sober performance at first minister's questions was followed by health minister Nicola Sturgeon mocking her in a debate on the constitution. It was an uncomfortable, rather than disastrous, day.

At the same time, a parallel story about the other key player in the Green scandal, Gordon, was also unfolding. The Labour MSP told journalists on Tuesday that he would make a statement on his "political future" later in the week. But reports he was to quit as an MSP proved to be unfounded after he issued a bland statement on Friday stating he was intending to stay.

A subplot to the drama is the increasing paranoia and feeling of mistrust within the Labour camp. Whitton was said to have been unamused at the suggestion he might be legally liable for the dodgy donation and Iain Bundred, the Labour fixer sent up from London to help the embattled Labour leader, was known to have displeased one senior member of Team Alexander last week.

First Minister Alex Salmond and Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of Westminster's Committee on Standards in Public Life, have said Alexander should quit her post while she attempts to clear her name.

A spokesman for Alexander, speaking about the donor list that was sent from the leader's office, said that "due process is under way and should be respected".

On the specific point about using Holyrood facilities for fundraising purposes, Jackie Baillie said: "If any of those who were helping out on the campaign has committed a minor breach in this way, then we are sincerely sorry."

SNP MSP Alex Neil said: "This gives the lie to the idea that they didn't know the donation was illegal until two Thursdays ago, and it shows a level of crassness of judgement that is beyond the pale.

"Using the Holyrood email for this is also against the parliament's rules. I don't think taxpayers will be very happy that their money and resources are being used for internal elections to the Labour party."

Deputy Scottish Tory leader Murdo Fraser said: "Wendy Alexander's defence throughout this whole process has been that she did not intentionally break the law. However, that defence looks increasingly incredible, given that there is a clear link between her personally and this document, which queried the permissibility of Green's donation.

"She has to come clean and give a full public explanation of her entire involvement with this donation."

Paul Green, meanwhile, is tending his business interests at home in Jersey. A horseracing enthusiast, he has received the official registration for his latest horse. Its name? No More Donations.