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Scotland's top civil servant has apologised for the Scottish government's handling of harassment complaints against Alex Salmond.
But Leslie Evans insisted that investigating the allegations against the former first minister was the right thing to do.
Ms Evans is the first witness to appear before a Scottish Parliament inquiry.
The inquiry centres on the government's investigation into two complaints from staff about Mr Salmond's behaviour.
The allegations date back to when he was in office as first minister of Scotland.
Mr Salmond successfully took the government to court over its investigation of the harassment complaints, and called for Ms Evans to quit after he was awarded £500,000 expenses by the Court of Session.
The court ruled that the investigation had been unlawful, "procedurally unfair" and "tainted with apparent bias" because the investigating officer assigned to the case had had prior contact with the complainers.
Ms Evans - the Scottish government's permanent secretary - has been strongly backed by her boss, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who is expected to give evidence to the committee in the coming weeks.
The civil servant told the inquiry: "When complaints were raised it would have been unconscionable, and a failure in our duty of care, not to investigate those complaints.
"It was accepted at judicial review that one part of our procedure should have been applied differently.
"I apologise unreservedly to all concerned for this procedural failure."
Image copyright Scottish government Image caption The Scottish government's permanent secretary, Leslie Evans, is the first witness at the inquiryThe Scottish Parliament inquiry into the collapse of the government case was put on hold for over a year after criminal charges were brought against Mr Salmond - which culminated in him being cleared of 13 charges of sexual assault at the High Court in Edinburgh in March.
The committee of MSPs, led by Deputy Presiding Officer Linda Fabiani, is examining the development of the government's harassment complaints procedure, the application of that procedure to the case of Mr Salmond, and the judicial review case.
Ms Fabiani has repeatedly clashed with the permanent secretary over documentation and written evidence being supplied by the government.
She has spoken of her "frustration and disappointment at the very limited amount of information the Scottish government has chosen to disclose" about the judicial review.
The committee has pledged not to re-investigate any complaints, but members will study the "culture" of government under both Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon - which has already led to civil service unions voicing concerns about "bullying behaviour" within both administrations.
Mr Salmond's defence in the criminal trial claimed he was the victim of a political conspiracy - something Ms Sturgeon has dismissed as "a heap of nonsense".
Ms Sturgeon has insisted that the complaints handling procedure she ordered to be drawn up in the wake of the Me Too movement remained "completely robust" despite the "deeply regrettable" failure in the case of her predecessor.
She has ordered an internal review of "the specific application of this one element of the procedure", and has also triggered an independent review to decide whether she broke the ministerial code in her dealings with Mr Salmond.
