Banks faces Commons questions over Russian links

THE millionaire Brexit backer who cofounded Leave.eu will be questioned in Parliament over his contacts with Russian officials, following the news that he repeatedly met the Russian ambassador.

MPS want to know whether Arron Banks profited from the meetings and whether he used the money to fund his campaigns.

Mr Banks was one of Ukip’s biggest donors before the 2015 election, and has reportedly given £8.1 million to Leave.eu, the unofficial Brexit campaign group.

Tomorrow, Mr Banks and Andy Wigmore, the Brexit campaigner, will appear in front of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS) as part of its inquiry into fake news.

Despite initially pulling out of the hearing, this weekend Mr Banks confirmed he will be attending, tweeting: “We look forward to seeing Damian Collins and the committee as originally planned.”

Mr Collins, who chairs the DCMS committee, said he will use the hearing to ask Mr Banks questions about his links with Russian officials, following reports in this weekend’s The Observer and The Sunday Times.

Emails disclosed by Isabel Oakeshott, the political commentator and author, showed Mr Banks had three meetings with Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian ambassador.

In his book, The Bad Boys of Brexit, which was ghostwritten by Ms Oakeshott, Mr Banks said he only had one meeting with Mr Yakovenko.

Mr Banks said any suggestion Leave. EU received financial help from Russia was “complete, absolute garbage”.