Friday

29th Mar 2024

UK police open case on shady Brexit funding

  • The £8m was a "significant" sum, the Electoral Commission said (Photo: Reuters)

British police are investigating "reasonable suspicion" that Brexit campaigners received millions in illicit funding in 2016.

The probe has prompted fresh calls to pause Britain's EU departure.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Banks mocked the investigation on social media (Photo: twitter.com)

It also prompted denials that Russia might have had a hand in steering British public opinion.

The "suspected electoral law offences" were "appropriate" grounds for serious fraud specialists from the National Crime Agency (NCA) to go into action, the NCA said on Thursday (1 November).

It went ahead after the Electoral Commission, a British regulator, said its own, one-year long investigation had given "reasonable grounds to suspect" that a British businessman had illegally bankrolled the Brexit side.

Arron Banks, a 52-year old insurance tycoon, had openly contributed £8m (€9m) to pro-Brexit groups, of which £2.9m was used directly in the campaign, the commission said.

But its scrutiny of bank transfers showed that he "was not the true source" of the funds, which instead came from a "shareholder loan" to his firm, Rock Services, from an unknown third party.

"Mr Banks and Ms Bilney ... knowingly concealed the true circumstances under which this money was provided," an Electoral Commission lawyer, Bob Posner, said, referring to Elizabeth Bilney, one of Banks' associates.

"The sums of money involved in these matters are significant," the electoral commission added, after the pro-Brexit side won the referendum by a narrow margin of 51.9 percent against 48.1 percent in June 2016.

The revelations prompted some opposition MPs to pause Brexit pending the NCA action.

It "must be put on hold until we know the extent of these crimes against our democracy", David Lammy, from the opposition Labour Party said.

Phillip Lee, a pro-EU MP from the ruling Conservative party, added: "It is not OK to proceed with Brexit while such big questions about such serious allegations remain unanswered."

But the British government ruled out such any such move.

"The referendum was the largest democratic exercise in this country's history and the PM is getting on with delivering its result," the office of British prime minister Theresa May said on Thursday.

The government had so far "not seen successful interference in UK democratic processes", her spokeswoman also said.

Russia

The Electoral Commission report on Banks and Bilney did not mention Russia.

But the case comes amid accusations that Russia interfered in Brexit the same way it later interfered in the US election and in the French and German elections in 2017.

It also comes after MPs grilled Banks over his links to Russian investors and meetings with Russian diplomats.

For her part, Bilney rejected the idea that Moscow was behind the dubious "shareholder loan".

"I can confirm it wouldn't have come from Russia … I run the group companies where the money was from and we don't have any transactions that are from Russia," she told British broadcaster the BBC on Thursday.

Banks also denied "the ludicrous allegations levelled against me, adding: "I am a UK taxpayer and I have never received any foreign donations."

The Electoral Commission had acted under "intense political pressure from anti-Brexit supporters," he said.

"Crikey ... it's not like I ordered the murder of someone inconvenient," he also joked on social media.

"I'm in Bermuda fishing," he said.

EU negotiations

The Banks affair comes at a sensitive time in British-EU negotiations.

Talks remain locked on issues such as the Irish border and the future of the City of London, amid speculation that the EU might call an extraordinary summit in November ahead of Britain's exit in March.

British newspapers the Financial Times and The Times, reported, separately, on Thursday that the EU had proposed a new solution on Ireland and on the City, loosening single market rules on customs and financial trading.

That saw the British pound jump in value, amid market jitters on the implications of a no-deal British EU exit.

But Downing Street and the EU negotiator, French politician Michel Barnier, later denied that new proposals were afoot.

The British foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, also admitted to MPs in parliament on Thursday that he was drawing up plans to get home British people if they were stranded in Europe in the case that a no-deal Brexit had led to cancelled flights.

Britain wants uniquely deep deal with EU

The UK prime minister's third speech on Brexit was the clearest yet on what she wants after Brexit, but still lacked new ideas on resolving some differences, especially on Northern Ireland.

No progress at Brexit summit, talks continue

British prime minister Theresa May addressed the EU-27 leaders after the apparent breakdown of Brexit talks and told them the UK is open to considering a longer transition period. But even a November 'emergency' summit is not yet certain.

Knives out on all sides for draft Brexit deal

British politicians from almost all sides have denounced a draft Brexit deal agreed between London and Brussels on Tuesday, raising the risk of a messy outcome.

US and EU breaking taboos to restrain Israel

The US abstained and all EU states on the UN Security Council backed a call for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza, as Europe prepares to also blacklist extremist Israeli settlers.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us