Lib Dems’ dodgy donor charged after Mallorca probe

DIRTY MONEY: Michael Brown is facing a further prison sentence. Credit: anti_digest/Twitter

A CONMAN who donated €2.7 million of stolen funds to the Liberal Democrats has been charged with laundering millions of pounds of dirty money in Spain, aided by his wife.
Prosecutors are working to have Michael Brown, 52, and Sharon Campbell, 59, jailed and fined more than €9 million.
They allege that the amount of hidden, ill-gotten money gathered and spent by the accused is more than €2.9 million.
In addition, prosecutors claim that €40 million of Brown’s funds is still missing more than a decade after his crimes were exposed.
The Lib Dems have repeatedly refused to hand back the €2.7 million of stolen funds he donated in 2005, insisting it was accepted in good faith.
It was the biggest donation in the party’s history, but there are questions as to why it seemed to pass up simple checks.
Brown’s looming trial with his wife of 25 years will be an embarrassment for the Lib Dems, who started their autumn conference in Brighton on Monday.
The judge-led probe in Mallorca was launched after pressure from anti-corruption investigators around the time Brown was completing a jail term for theft and fraud offences in the UK.
The investigating judge agreed to cast a fresh look at whether he laundered money from his illegal activities through assets in Mallorca, including property and a string of companies.
A master of disguise, Brown was on the run for more than three years before being held in the Dominican Republic and was returned to the UK to serve over seven years in jail.
Brown was released in January 2016 halfway through his prison sentence and, after probation, moved to Mallorca where he has been living in luxury with his wife Sharon at their €840,000 villa overlooking mountains in Esporles.

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