LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) – British police said on Wednesday they would carry out a criminal investigation into allegations that the populist Reform UK party, led by Nigel Farage, breached donation rules, after its officials were filmed by undercover reporters.
London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “Detectives have assessed the information provided and determined that there are potential offences requiring investigation.
“The potential offences are similar in nature to matters already under investigation by the Met’s Special Enquiry Team relating to donations made to the same political party.”
Two senior aides to Farage stepped down last week after an investigation made several allegations, including that the party had broken electoral law by arranging for a foreign donor to pay for political polling.
“Reform UK denies any wrongdoing and will fully cooperate with the investigation,” a party spokesperson said in a statement. “We won’t be commenting further while a live investigation is underway.”
Reform — which has seen its commanding lead in opinion polls falter over other allegations about a £5 million gift to Farage — previously said it had been the victim of a hoax perpetrated by climate activists.
The undercover investigation, broadcast by Channel 4 during Reform’s annual conference, was conducted by investigative group Verbatim, which said it spent a year speaking to officials in Reform about possible donations.
Posing as wealthy donors from the United States with British connections, the team eventually had a lunch with Farage. Farage later told the BBC that he was not listening to what was said.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin, Sam Tabahriti and Andrew MacAskill; editing by Sarah Young and William James)
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