BREXIT: NEW SECRET PUTIN CONNECTION
Farage bankroller met Russian envoy 3 times ...now MI5 urged to act
EXPLOSIVE new claims of Russian meddling in the Brexit referendum emerged last night as it was revealed that the millionaire who bankrolled the Leave campaign had a series of secret meetings with Vladimir Putin’s UK envoy.
Arron Banks had three meetings with Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko, fresh evidence shows, despite previously claiming to have had only a ‘boozy lunch’ with him. Leaked emails written by Banks and his Leave.EU righthand-man Andy Wigmore – both close friends of ex-Ukip leader Nigel Farage – allegedly show they were in close contact with Russian officials throughout the referendum campaign and afterwards.
Former Ukip donor Mr Banks is also said to have given Russian
officials telephone numbers for members of Donald Trump’s presidential transition team, just days after he and Mr Farage visited Trump Tower in the wake of the shock US election result.
The cache of messages will be discussed by the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, which is investigating Russia’s attempts to subvert democracy with ‘fake news’.
Mr Banks and Mr Wigmore last night set the stage for an electrifying hearing of the inquiry on Tuesday, vowing that they would give evidence to committee chairman Damian Collins about their emails being ‘hacked’.
Mr Banks wrote on Twitter that the messages had been ‘stolen’ and added: ‘At this rate I’ll be attending @DamianCollins on Tuesday as planned!’ He had previously vowed not to attend the hearing, branding the committee a ‘partisan witch hunt’ and accusing it of ‘collusion’ with pro-EU campaigners.
Mr Wigmore also tweeted Mr Collins yesterday: ‘Fill your boots and all from #hacked emails, surely not legal? See you on Tuesday.’ He tagged Mr Banks in the message.
Last night Mr Collins told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The concern we have is there seems to be evidence of very close contact between Leave.EU and the Russian embassy during the referendum campaign, far greater than they have previously admitted to.
‘We will be questioning Mr Banks and Mr Wigmore about this.’
Tuesday’s showdown will coincide with crucial votes in the Commons on Brexit. Theresa May will attempt to stop rebel Tory MPs defeating the Government by backing amendments that would keep Britain in the Single Market or a customs union with the EU.
The Government and the intelligence services are likely to face calls to investigate the new evidence of contact between the Brexiteers and Putin’s officials. Just last month MI5 chief Andrew Parker branded the Russian government the ‘chief propagandist’ in a campaign to undermine Western democracies.
Asked about the new allegations at a press conference following the G7 summit in Canada last night, the Prime Minister said she was not aware of the detail but added: ‘I’m sure if there are any allegations that need investigating, then the proper authorities will do that.’
Mr Banks, who is married to a Russian, has previously claimed his only contact with Russian officials came at a Ukip conference in September 2015 when a man called ‘Oleg’ invited him to a private meeting with the ambassador. ‘Our host wanted the inside track on the Brexit campaign and grilled us on the potential implications of an Out vote for Europe,’ Mr Banks wrote in his book, Bad Boys Of Brexit.
He said ‘diplomatic relations improved’ when the Russians produced a bottle of vodka that had been ‘made for Stalin personally’.
It also emerged that the Brexit campaigners were introduced to the Russian ambassador by Alexander Udod, a suspected spy who was kicked out of the UK in the wake of the Salisbury nerve agent attack earlier this year.
They met again in November 2015, when Mr Yakovenko proposed a business deal to Mr Banks and Mr Wigmore that would see them involved in the consolidation of six Russian goldmines.
The following day Mr Banks wrote to one of the Russians he met, a mining magnate: ‘I’m very bullish about gold so keen to have a look! Very nice to meet yesterday with the Russian ambassador!’
The Leave.EU chiefs even invited the embassy team to their party on referendum day in June 2016.
Last night the Russian Embassy said it ‘has not in any way intervened in domestic UK political process, including the Brexit referendum’ and added: ‘Meeting stakeholders representing all political spectrums of the host country is a natural element of the work of any embassy.’
‘Russians wanted the inside track on Brexit’
The new claims of closer contact between Mr Banks and Russia will raise fears among Leave backers that Brexit will be discredited in a welter of sleaze allegations.
Last week MPs ordered Dominic Cummings, mastermind of the official Vote Leave campaign, to give evidence to the same committee over claims he broke election spending rules. Mr Cummings said he would not attend.
There have also been claims that Brexit campaigners misused personal data obtained via controversial firm Cambridge Analytica in order to target voters.
The Electoral Commission watchdog is already investigating whether or not Mr Banks breached rules over Brexit campaign donations.
His meetings with Moscow’s man in London are not the only suggestion of a Russian link to Brexit. This newspaper exposed last year how the pro-Brexit Legatum Institute helped Mr Gove and Boris Johnson press Mrs May for a ‘hard Brexit’.
Billionaire Christopher Chandler, who runs the think-tank, was last month accused in the Commons of being a suspected Russian agent – claims he strongly denies.