Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TORIES’ £2M FROM RUSSIAN DONORS
Gifts double to £74m under PM Boris
BULGING Tory Party coffers have swelled by £2million from donors with Russian links since Boris Johnson became PM, a Sunday Mirror investigation has found.
Those whose offices or constituencies benefited include Deputy PM Dominic Raab, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and five other MPs who attend Cabinet.
Tycoons and benefactors are hurling cash at the Tories at an astonishing rate as ordinary Brits face painful Universal Credit cuts, National Insurance hikes and soaring energy bills.
In the first six months of 2020 donations hit £57,700 a day – £2,400 an hour.
Donations total £74m since Mr Johnson took office in 2019.
That compares to £38m in the previous two years, under Theresa May, Electoral Commission figures show.
The Russian-linked money is revealed after a report last year uncovered claims Moscow sought to influence voters in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee made 21 recommendations to tackle Russian interference in British democracy. For years, oligarchs were able to “buy” citizenship in exchange for a £2million investment in UK bonds or shares through a bank. The report said cash was invested in “PR firms, charities, political interests, academia and cultural institutions” – all of whom were “willing beneficiaries of Russian money”.
Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said: “The Government is failing in its first duty to keep our country safe. It’s a year since the Russia Report and not a single recommendation has been implemented.
ASLEEP
“Ministers are asleep at the wheel, failing to act on crucial matters of national security – from cyber warfare to interference in democratic processes and the laundromat of dirty money.
“This inexcusable lack of action is leaving our whole country at risk.”
Alexander Temerko and his firm Aquind Energy made a string of donations. Some £10,000 went to Treasury Secretary Simon Clarke’s Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency.
Aquind is seeking permission to build a huge energy interconnector under the Channel and in 2012 it got a £4.5m Government grant.
In 2015 Mr Sunak also saw a £6,000 donation to his Richmond, Yorks, constituency from Mr Temerko, a former aide to ex-Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan removed herself from decisions on the Aquind plan because of £17,000 in donations from Mr Temerko during her days as a business minister.
COP26 president Alok Sharma got £10,000 for his constituency in Reading West from Aquind in 2019, plus £15,000 from Mr Temerko’s old venture Offshore Group Newcastle in 2014.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis directly received £10,000 from banker Ms Lubov Chernukhin, who is the Conservatives’ biggest individual donor.
Dominic Raab declared a £25,000 donation to his Esher and Walton constituency from Dmitry Leus – whose £500,000 gift to royal charities triggered a row over claims foreigners could “buy” residency.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Mr Temerko, Ms Chernukhin or Mr Leus – all British citizens.
A spokesperson for Mr Leus said: “He has played no active part in politics.
“He has devoted time and resources to philanthropic causes, in 2018 setting up the Leus Family Foundation, a registered UK charity, to support children and young people.”
A spokesperson for Mr Temerko said: “Mr Temerko is a Ukrainian-born British citizen and has no links to Russia.”
Lawyers for Ms Chernukhin have said: “Donations have never been tainted by Kremlin or other influence.”
No action on Russian Report... it leaves the UK at risk LABOUR’S NICK THOMAS-SYMONDS