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Arron Banks under investigation for Brexit donations
He was an extremely prominent voice in the EU leave campaign and its biggest backer. Now, Thornbury-based multi-millionaire Arron Banks is being investigated by the Electoral Commission.
The election watchdog officially announced on Wednesday it is looking into whether Banks broke the rules during last year’s Brexit referendum with regards to donations and loans made in his name.
One of his companies, Better for the Country, which is registered at a Cribbs Causeway address, is also under investigation as the Electoral Commissions seeks to determine whether the business was the “true source” of funds, totalling more than £2m, or if it was acting as an agent.
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The money donated to Leave.EU by its chairman and former UKIP-backer, Banks, is thought to be the biggest in political history. The business tycoon was registered as a permitted participant in the EU referendum and gave loans on ‘non-commercial terms’ worth £6m.
Banks responded to news of the investigation with a tweet:
While others, including the South West’s MEP, Molly Scott Cato, welcomed news of the investigation:
The Electoral Commission will also look at whether recipients of funds acted in accordance with the rules and “whether any individual facilitated a transaction with a non-qualifying person”.
This comes in the midst of an ongoing, separate investigation into whether one or more donations accepted by Leave.EU was impermissible and whether its spending return was complete.
Bob Posner, director of political finance and regulation and legal counsel, said: “Interest in the funding of the EU referendum campaigns remains widespread.
“Questions over the legitimacy of funding provided to campaigners at the referendum risks causing harm to voters’ confidence.
“It is therefore in the public interest that 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.”
Read more: Full Brexit results: What we learned
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