The UK Electoral Commission is set to determine whether Arron Banks, who has already commented on the probe, and Better for the Country Ltd group breached campaign finance rules during the referendum on whether Britain should leave the EU.
Britain’s Electoral Commission has announced that it is investigating whether or not the Leave campaigner Arron Banks was the true source of loans reported in his name during the Brexit referendum.
“Questions over the legitimacy of funding provided to campaigners at the referendum risks causing harm to voters’ confidence,” Director of Political Finance and Regulation & Legal Counsel at the Commission Bob Posner has stated as quoted by Reuters.
In his turn, Arron Banks, a British businessman and political donor, has responded to the probe, saying: “Gosh I’m terrified.”
Arron Banks was the co-founder of the Leave.EU campaign promoting Britain’s exit from the European Union.
Commenting his contribution to the referendum, Banks said that “Brexit was a war. We won. There’s no turning back now.”
The development comes just days after the British press reported that UKIP whistleblowers informed the Electoral Commission that some individuals, remunerated by US-based right-wing news outlet Breitbart, had been working as unpaid UKIP volunteers, which could be interpreted as an indirect political donation. Nevertheless, Gawain Towler, the spokesman for the UKIP, has denounced the media claims as “ridiculous,” in a comment to Sputnik.
In a separate inquiry, Labour Member of Parliament Ben Bradshaw asked the government earlier in October to examine the origin of some of the funds used in the Brexit campaign amid general concern about foreign influence on it.
The newly launched probe comes in the wake of tough negotiations on the terms for Britain’s exit from the European Union, with the deadline set for March 2019. While Britain’s parliament should vote on Brexit by the end of 2017, UK Brexit Secretary David Davis has suggested that due to differences, the vote may take place after the deadline for the country to leave the EU.