Image copyright Reuters
Liz Bilney (left) has been referred to the police
Campaign group Leave.EU has been fined £70,000 for breaches of election law within the 2016 EU referendum.
The Electoral Commission stated the groupwhich was separate from the official pro-Brexit group Vote Leavedidn't report "at the very least" £77,380 it spent.
It has additionally referred Leave.EU chief govt Liz Bilney to the police following its investigation into what it calls "severe offences".
Leave.EU co-founder Arron Banks known as it a "politically motivated assault".
Responding to the Electoral Commission's findings, he stated: "What a shambles, we'll see them in court docket."
The investigation additionally regarded into whether or not Leave.EU had acquired any providers from Cambridge Analytica which ought to have been declared on its spending return however discovered no proof that the group acquired donations or paid for providers from the political consultancy.
Leave.EU's relationship with the controversial agency "didn't develop past preliminary scoping work", based on the Commission.
The UK voted by 52% to 48% to depart the European Union in a referendum in June 2016. All teams had to make sure they met marketing campaign spending guidelines and filed correct returns beneath the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.
Leave.EU has been fined £70,000 for breaking electoral law during referendum
Who are Leave.EU?
- Founded by UKIP donor and businessman Arron Banks and backed by UKIP's Nigel Farage
- Self-styled "unhealthy boys of Brexit"the title of Banks's ebook on the marketing campaign
- Lost out to Vote Leave within the battle to turn into the official "out" marketing campaign during the EU Referendum
- Relations between Vote Leave and Leave.EU soured during the marketing campaignLeave.EU argued it had a wider attain exterior the "Westminster bubble" and targeted its message extra on immigration
The Electoral Commission stated Leave.EU had exceeded the spending restrict for "non-party registered campaigners" by at the very least 10% by failing to incorporate at the very least £77,380 in its spending returnthe price paid to marketing campaign organiser Better for the Country Ltdand added the overspend "might properly have been significantly increased than that".
Its spending return additionally didn't embody providers Leave.EU had acquired from a US marketing campaign technique agency, Goddard Gunster, and the group "inaccurately reported" three loans totalling £6m from Mr Bankstogether with who had supplied themand didn't present invoices or receipts for 97 separate funds, totalling £80,224.
The Commission has referred Leave.EU chief govt Liz Bilney to the police, saying it had cheap grounds to suspect she had dedicated felony offences over marketing campaign spending.
Bob Posner, the Commission's director of political finance and regulation, stated spending guidelines have been in place to make sure public confidence in democracy and it was "disappointing that Leave.EU, a key participant within the EU referendum, was unable to abide by these guidelines".
"These are severe offences. The degree of superb we have now imposed has been constrained by the cap on the Commission's fines," he added.
'Ignored fully'
But Mr Banks informed the BBC's Daily Politics that Leave.EU had responded to the Commission with a 20-page report from an unbiased accountant which, he stated, the watchdog had "ignored fully".
He described the disputed quantity as "an inside administration cost which our legal professionals have informed us wasn't reportable" and claimed the Commission was staffed by pro-Remainers and the ruling was politically motivated.
"Effectively what they've accomplished is, they began off their investigation with a remit of investigating Cambridge Analytica and darkish Russian cashthey've discovered no proof of any of these issues they usually have fined us on a technical accounting problem which is closely in dispute."
Mr Banks stated they meant to problem the discovering in court docket.
Electoral Commission chief govt Claire Bassett denied claims of bias made by Mr Banks.
She informed BBC Radio four's Today programme: "The choices have been made by administrators of the Electoral Commission, they have been made primarily based on strong proof we had gathered, and certainly you'll be able to see that within the 30-page report that we printed."
Leave.EU is just not the one group to fall foul of spending guidelines within the EU Referendum marketing campaign. The Lib Dems have been fined £18,000 and the official Remain marketing campaign was fined £1,250 by the Commission final 12 months.
The official Vote Leave groupthat was backed by cupboard ministers Boris Johnson and Michael Goveremains to be beneath investigation. The pro-EU European Movement UK and UKIP have additionally been fined over their referendum spending.
The most superb is £20,000 per offenceLeave.EU was fined for 4 separate offences.