Brexit and £6million of Russian dark money
Poll watchdogs probe donations
ELECTION watchdogs are investigating whether Leave.EU chief Arron Banks broke campaign finance rules during the referendum.
Banks yesterday insisted the vote to quit the EU was not “funded by the Russians”.
The Electoral Commission are looking into whether Banks was the “true source” of three loans worth £6million to the Leave.EU campaign he chairs.
They are also probing whether Better for the Country Limited, a firm who list Banks as a director and have their office at the same address as Leave.EU, were acting as an “agent” when they donated £2.3million to five registered campaigners.
Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, who has raised concerns about openDemocracy reports on the role of “dark money” in the referendum and Banks’s “real wealth”, linked the announcement to the US probe into Russia and Donald Trump.
Bradshaw asked Theresa May at Prime Minister’s Questions: “With today’s news that the Electoral Commission is investigating Arron Banks… along with the significant British connections being uncovered by the American Justice Department’s special counsel Robert Mueller, investigating Russian interference in the US presidential election, will you assure me that the UK Government and all its agencies are co-operating fully with the Mueller investigation or will do so if asked?”
May said they took the issue “very seriously” and co-operated with the US “when required”.
The commission’s Bob Posner said: “Questions over the legitimacy of funding… at the referendum risks causing harm to voters’ confidence.
“It is therefore in the public interest the Electoral Commission seeks to ascertain whether or not impermissible donations were given to referendum campaigners and if any other related offences have taken place.”
Banks called the Russia claims “complete b***ocks”.
He added: “The Leave.EU campaign was funded by myself, Peter Hargreaves and the general public.
“My sole involvement with the Russians was a boozy six-hour lunch with the ambassador.”