Yesterday at 20:25
Photo from Ukrinform–UATV
Britain’s National Crime Agency began an investigation today into Brexit backer Arron Banks and one of the main groups which campaigned to leave the European Union over the true source of million of pounds in loans, Reuters reports.
The British Electoral Commission said that it had found serious offenses in the funding of the Leave.EU campaign since the 2016 Brexit referendum, including loans from impermissible donors and the concealment of financial transactions.
The Commission said that it suspected criminal offenses had been committed and that Banks was not the true source of eight million pounds or $10 million in loans to Brexit campaign groups.
Banks, who was pictured with Donald Trump and leading Brexiteer Nigel Farage outside a gilded elevator soon after Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory, said he welcomed the inquiry.
He said that he was “confident that a full and frank investigation will finally put an end to the ludicrous allegations leveled against me and my colleagues.”
“There is no evidence of any wrongdoing from the companies I own. I am a U.K. taxpayer, and I have never received any foreign donations. The Electoral Commission has produced no evidence to the contrary,” he added in a statement.
The Commission said that the cases involve Banks, the insurance millionaire who heavily backed the Leave campaign; Elizabeth Bilney, one of his key associates; Leave.EU; the company used to finance it, and “other associated companies and individuals.”
News of the investigation prompted anti-Brexit campaigners to call for a delay to the process of leaving the EU.
In the June 23, 2016, referendum, 17.4 million voters, or 51.9 percent, backed leaving the European Union, while 16.1 million, or 48.1 percent, backed staying.
Opponents have repeatedly called for a rerun of the vote, alleging financial improprieties in the Brexit campaign and possible foreign, mainly Russian, funding for the campaign.
Britain is due to leave on March 29, 2019.
Banks and Bilney chaired the Leave.EU campaign
