Brexit ‘Leave’ Camp May Have Broken Spending Rules, Observer Says
- Directing how funds are spent flouts rules, whistleblower says
- Foreign secretary Johnson calls story ‘utterly ludicrous’
Boris Johnson with the Vote Leave, Brexit Battle Bus in May 2016.
Photographer: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images EuropeThis article is for subscribers only.
The main group that campaigned for Britain to leave the European Union, which included Boris Johnson among its advocates, may have broken campaign spending laws, according to the Observer newspaper, which cited comments by a whistle-blower.
“Vote Leave” donated 625,000 pounds ($883,000) to an independent referendum organization called BeLeave, which may have flouted the limits on referendum spending because rather than a donation, Vote Leave said how the money was to be spent, whistle-blower Shahmir Sanni, who worked at BeLeave, said in the Observer, which cooperated with Channel 4 on the story.