From the Good Law Project
As part of our work to tackle dark money in politics, Good Law Project has been undertaking a series of investigations looking into who is donating to whom in UK politics.
Good Law Project wants to expose the undisclosed donors, cronyism, misinformation and lobbying that surrounds our policies and public debate, and to hold power to account.
We want to share with you the second installment of our investigations:
The Dark Money Files
Russia-linked Tory donors
A year on since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, we can reveal that the Conservative Party is still receiving large donations from individuals and companies with links to Russia.
Our investigation shows that, since the start of the war in 2022, the Conservatives have accepted at least £243,000 from Russia-associated donors -including at least £61,000 into Tory coffers in 2023 alone.
Here’s what we discovered:
Lubov Chernukhin, a Russian Conservative donor married to Vladimir Putin’s former deputy finance minister has continued to donate large sums of money to the party. Since the onset of war, Mrs Chernukhin has handed £175,000 to the Tories. Overall she has donated more than £2m to the Conservative party.
Lubov Chernukhin, a British and Russian citizen, is married to Vladimir Chernukhin, a former deputy finance minister under Vladimir Putin and chairman of Russian state corporation VEB.RF, which has previously been sanctioned by the UK.
Aquind, a British cabling company controlled by Russian oil tycoon Viktor Fedotov, has donated £42,000 to the Conservative party in the past 14 months, including a £10,000 cash donation to Liam Fox MP reported in January this year.
Fedetov’s ties to Russia have been well documented, with reports suggesting he made at least £72m from an offshore financial structure that appears to have funneled money from Russian companies.
Alexander Temerko, a major Tory donor and Aquind director has donated a further £10,000 to the Tories during the same period. Temerko has donated over £700,000 in total.
Good Law Project will continue to investigate who is really donating to MPs and ministers within our democracy and having undue influence over our politics. We will share with you what we find and explore legal challenges we can undertake.
If you’re in a position to support our work, to help us hold power to account, you can do so below.
Donate to Good Law Project
Thank you,
Good Law Project Team
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The Treason Act includes the following (if you think the wording is odd, the Act is written in Norman French !) . . .
” . . . if a man do levy war against our lord the King in his realm, or be adherent to the King’s enemies in his realm, giving to them aid and comfort in the realm, or elsewhere”. Surely, if you receive handsome sums of money from a hostile power you might be said to be adherent to the King’s enemies ?
