Whistleblowers cast shadow over Brexit campaign legality

Brexit campaigners breached UK law to channel more funds to a data analysis firm, lawyers say.

Whistleblower Shahmir Sanni weeps during a press conference in London. Picture: Getty Images

Brexit campaigners breached UK law to channel more funds to a data analysis firm ahead of the EU referendum, according to evidence outlined yesterday by whistleblowers’ lawyers.

“There is a prima facie case that the following electoral offences were committed by Vote Leave in the EU referendum campaign,” said a 50-page document presented by London law firm Bindmans.

The case centres on a £625,000 ($1.1 million) donation by Vote Leave to the smaller pro-Brexit group BeLeave, which lawyers argue was made by the lead campaign group to mask a payment to Canadian data firm AIQ.

“There are strong grounds to infer that Vote Leave was involved in the decision by which the AIQ payment was made,” said the legal opinion, written by three independent barristers at Bindmans’ ­request.

Shahmir Sanni, who worked for BeLeave, earlier told British media of the campaign’s close ties to Vote Leave, “in effect they used BeLeave to over-spend, and not just by a small amount”.

“They say that it wasn’t co-­ordinated, but it was. And so the idea that ... the campaign was legitimate is false,” he told Channel 4 News.

Vote Leave ultimately declared campaign costs of just over £6.7m — under the £7m legal limit — of which nearly £2.7m was spent on services by AIQ.

Lawyers argue witness statements by three people close to the two campaigns demonstrate their “extremely close relationship”, including staff from the two groups sharing an office. The case requires “urgent investigation” to decide whether to refer it to state prosecutors, they said.

The overspending accusation comes as the role of data analysis companies in political campaigns come under greater scrutiny, following allegations that British consulting group Cambridge Analytica harvested data on tens of millions of Facebook users.

Christopher Wylie, who worked for Cambridge Analytica, blew the whistle on the scandal and appeared at the Bindmans press conference where he said there should be a second Brexit referendum.

“This is about the integrity of the fundamental process. It is important we enforce the law where over-spending happened,” he said, declaring himself a Eurosceptic.

The legal opinion said top Vote Leave figures “must have known about BeLeave’s campaign ­activity”, including Stephen Parkinson, who is now Prime Minister Theresa May’s political secretary.

Vote Leave has denied the ­accusations and is backed by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, a Brexit figurehead, who this week dismissed the claims as ­“utterly ludicrous”.

The legal opinion said: “Given the very close working relationships at all material times between Vote Leave and BeLeave, the way in which Parkinson and Cleo Watson (of Vote Leave) supervised the work of the young BeLeave volunteers and that Vote Leave and ­BeLeave staff worked closely together on a daily basis, in the same office, throughout the referendum campaign, it can be properly inferred that Mr Parkinson and Ms Watson must have known about BeLeave’s campaign activity, of which the AIQ targeted messaging was a significant part.”

Mrs May has stood by Mr Parkinson after he was criticised for revealing in a statement that he was in a gay relationship with Mr Sanni.

The controversy is understood to have led to recriminations in Downing Street because Gavin Barwell, Mrs May’s chief of staff, did not know of Mr Parkinson’s statement in advance but Robbie Gibb, the director of communications, did.

Mrs May told MPs that “my political secretary does a very good job”.

A source said that this had led to tension. No 10 Downing Street did not comment.

AFP, The Times