Arron Banks faces Brexit referendum spending probe

AS telling bbc.com,

The National Crime Agency is investigating Arron Banks and his Leave.EU campaign for alleged offences committed at the 2016 EU referendum.

Mr Banks and another senior campaign figure, Liz Bilney, were referred to the agency by the Electoral Commission.

The watchdog said it suspected Mr Banks was not the "true source" of loans to the campaign and the money had come "from impermissible sources".

Mr Banks denied any wrongdoing and said he welcomed the police investigation.

He said he was "confident that a full and frank investigation will finally put an end to the ludicrous allegations levelled against me and my colleagues".

"There is no evidence of any wrongdoing from the companies I own. I am a UK taxpayer and I have never received any foreign donations. The Electoral Commission has produced no evidence to the contrary," he added in a statement.

The BBC's EU referendum special report
Brexit: All you need to know
Read the full Electoral Commission report
He claimed the Electoral Commission had acted "under intense political pressure from anti-Brexit supporters".

Mr Banks is currently in Bermuda, from where he tweeted a picture of himself following the news of the police investigation.