Brexit tycoon Banks faces £135k fine for data breaches
LEAVE campaigner Arron Banks faces a £135,000 bill after his pro-Brexit group and car insurance business were both fined for misusing personal data.
The Information Commissioner’s Office ( ICO) said Leave.EU committed a serious data protection breach when it sent hundreds of thousands of emails to customers of Mr Banks’ firm Eldon.
The insurance company broke the same rules when it later sent more than one million marketing emails to Leave.EU’s database of Brexit supporters, the ICO said.
In a report published yesterday, Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said she intended to fine Leave.EU £75,000 and Eldon £ 60,000 for the breaches, which were blamed on ‘ an error in managing an email distribution system’.
She warned that Mr Banks faced ‘ significantly higher’ fines if it was found that his Brexit campaign group and insurance firm were continuing to share data illegally.
The ICO report comes after the National Crime Agency last week announced it was investigating Mr Banks for ‘suspected criminal offences’ relating to £ 8million the tycoon donated to Leave.EU – the largest donation in British political history. Mr Banks has repeatedly denied claims that Russian money was used to bankroll the campaign.
Mr Banks, who describes himself as one of the ‘bad boys of Brexit’, was a prominent figure in the successful campaign to break away from Brussels. While Leave.EU was Investigation: Arron Banks not the official Brexit campaign, a string of controversial social media videos and its links to former Ukip leader Nigel Farage ensured that it enjoyed a high profile.
The ICO had investigated allegations that Eldon, which provides insurance policies through brands including Go Skippy, shared customers’ data with Leave.EU without their consent.
The email addresses of almost 320,000 Eldon customers were found to have been ‘unlawfully’ sent ‘political messages’. In addition, Leave.EU subscribers were sent emails that included Go Skippy marketing information promoting a discount for Leave. EU supporters. Mr
‘Offered them a 10% discount’
Banks yesterday defended himself on Twitter, writing: ‘The ICO [finds] no evidence of a grand data conspiracy and [finds] we may have accidentally sent a newsletter to customers. Gosh, we communicated with our supporters and offered them a 10 per cent Brexit discount after the vote! So what?’
A Leave.EU spokesman last night said: ‘We have been open and transparent with the ICO throughout their investigation. The ICO, as part of its wide-ranging investigation, considered the use of data by Eldon and Leave.EU.
‘The ICO made it clear it did not consider any of these incidents was done deliberately in breach of data protection legislation.
‘Eldon and Leave.EU will make appropriate representations to dispute the findings, as these are not final determinations by the ICO.’
In a further setback yesterday, Mr Banks lost a tribunal fight after complaining about tax demands on large donations to Ukip.
He objected after the taxman asked for about £160,000 on donations of nearly £1million that Mr Banks or companies he controlled made to the party between September 2014 and April 2015. A judge dismissed his appeal against demands by HM Revenue and Customs following a tax tribunal hearing in London.