PRESSURE is mounting on Danny Alexander to explain his role in a “dodgy donations” scandal after a member of Nick Clegg’s inner circle allegedly accepted a potentially illegal gift for the Liberal Democrats.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Inverness MP was caught in a newspaper sting discussing donations with business figures and apparently telling them how to remain anonymous, by giving less that £7,500 at any one time.
It led to the resignation of Ibrahim Taguri, the party’s candidate for the Brent Central seat in London and former fundraiser. He said he still intended to contest the seat, but as an independent.
This was not Alexander’s first brush with dodgy donation allegations. Last year, our sister paper The Sunday Herald reported that he had accepted £50,000 from a self-confessed tax dodger.
Drew Hendry, the SNP candidate for Alexander’s Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey seat, said: “This latest episode is an extremely serious issue, apparently involving the Lib Dems at a very senior level seeking to break electoral law.
“Danny Alexander is at the centre of this dodgy donation scandal, and he must provide an immediate and full account of his role in it.
“It seems that the LibDems are becoming increasingly desperate to get their hands on cash – regardless where it is from.”
And Labour candidate Mike Robb said: “Danny Alexander needs to make clear where his campaign funding is coming from.”
Taguri reportedly sought a donation from an undercover reporter posing as an Indian businessman, who was told he cold donate money to the LibDems via a “cousin”.
He was also advised he could spread donations among other family members and even backdate a cheque – all to allow its true source to remain hidden on the official register of political donations.
Taguri supposedly accepted a cheque for £7,500 earlier this month from the “proxy donor” and said it would “open doors”. He then invited the reporter to a private meeting with Alexander and a fundraising dinner.
At that meeting Alexander allegedly encouraged the “businessman” to give the party further financial support, but made clear he did not want to “intrude on the details” of his donations.
In private talks he was quoted as telling the man: “I just want you to know that I, personally, am very, very grateful for what you are doing and for what you are offering to do.”
At a dinner before the meeting, Lord Fox, a former chief executive of the LibDems, said some donors did not want their donations to be made public because of their “professional positions”, but added: “Anything under £7,500 isn’t reported and doesn’t have to be reported to the Electoral Commission.”
Then, at another meeting,Taguri is said to have told the man that his donation, and a further gift of £100,000 would “open doors” and the party would be “very helpful”.
During the sting, the reporter was given access to senior party members. He was introduced to Alexander and Lord Ashdown and was taken to Nick Clegg’s House of Commons office and offered a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister.
A request by The National for a comment from Alexander was not acknowledged, but Clegg and Ashdown sprung to his defence.
Speaking on a radio phone-in, Clegg said Alexander had done nothing wrong.
“All you’ve played in a clip is Danny [Alexander] being a polite guy, just saying ‘thank you’ to someone who he’s been told is supporting the party,” he said.
“The idea that Danny or any parliamentarian’s done anything wrong is categorically untrue.”
He added: “Having said that, on the issue of Ibrahim Taguri, firstly no cheque has been received by the Liberal Democrats; no cheque has been cashed.
“If we’d received the cheque in question of course it would have been scrutinised and checked.
“Secondly, he has stood down. We have referred everything to the Electoral Commission.“
Ashdown said it was a serious allegation and the party was treating it “very seriously”.
“The Liberal Democrat Party has done absolutely nothing either illegal or improper. We have not received any cheques, we have not accepted any cheques, we have not banked any cheques, and before any of those things would have happened the most rigorous checks would have been carried out as required by law – as we have consistently done on every other occasion,” he said.
“Secondly, it is normal, it is commonplace and it is common practice among all the parties for donors to meet with senior officials – that’s what happened on this occasion, that’s all that happened on this occasion, and any suggestion that anything more than that happened on this occasion is wrong.”
He said that as chairman of the general election campaign, he had reviewed Taguri’s evidence and it was quite clear there were
“serious questions” for him to answer.
“It would be quite improper for us, and you would rightly criticise us if we investigated this ourselves – it must be done by an independent third party,” added Ashdown. “The organisation charged with doing that is the Electoral Commission.”
A Commission spokesman said: “We are aware of what’s been reported … and are establishing the facts before determining what further steps to take.”
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