Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Tories should return £1.7m as ‘donor hubby paid by Putin pal’
Labour’s demand over gifts to party
TALKS Vladimir with Putin
THE Tories have been urged to return £1.7million in donations from a donor whose husband was allegedly secretly funded by an oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin.
L u b o v C h e r n u k h i n’s h u s b a n d V ladimir reportedly received $8m (£6.1m) from a billionaire Russian politician called Suleyman Kerimov.
Mrs Chernukhin is said to have paid more than £200,000 for two tennis matches with Boris Johnson and £135,000 for a night out with Theresa May and several cabinet ministers.
Leaked “suspicious activity reports” from banks show Vladimir was sent the cash in 2016 from a British Virgin Islands company linked to gold mine owner Mr Kerimov, according to the BBC.
Mr Chernukhin was a deputy finance minister under Putin. The couple moved to London after his sacking g in 2004.
Labour MP P Chris Bryant said: “Successive Tory PMS have been complacent acent and naive about accepting pting cash from Russian cronies nies of Putin.
“The party ty should return every penny it has received from Lubov v Cher Cher- nukhin now.” ”
In July, the th e
Intelligence ce
and Security Committee’s Russia Report said Russians with close links to Putin were now well integrated into the UK.
Shadow Security Minister Conor Mcginn said: “Protecting democratic discourse and processes from hostile foreign interference is a central responsibility of Government. These [claims] create questions about how effectively they are discharging that duty.”
Mrs Chernukhin is a regular attendee of the Conservatives’ lavish fundraiser the Black and White Ball. Her donations started in 2012, but most came after Mr Kerimov’s payment to her husband.
Lawyers for Mr Kerimov denied all allegations made by the BBC.
The Chernukhins’ lawyers, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, said: “Mrs Chernukhin has never received money deriving from Mr Kerimov or any company related to him. [Her] donations have never been tainted by Kremlin or an any other influence.”
No10 and the Tories declined to comment on Mrs Chernukhin’s access to the PM and on Mr Kerimov’s funding. But a party spokesm spokesman said: “People of Russian origin o who are British citizens have the democratic
righ right to donate.”