Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK and a member of parliament, is facing a formal investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog after failing to declare a £5 million ($6.8 million) gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, news services including the Guardian reported on Wednesday.
Farage received the donation from Harborne, a Thailand-based businessman with a 12% stake in stablecoin issuer Tether, weeks before he announced he would stand as a candidate in the 2024 general election and did not declare it when he was elected as MP for Clapton. New MPs must register all financial interests received within the 12 months prior to their election.
A weekly YouGov poll of voting intentions has seen Reform UK win the biggest share of the vote, with 28%, putting Farage as the front-runner to become the next Prime Minister. If the watchdog finds he breached the code of conduct, he could face suspension and potentially be forced to fight again for his parliamentary seat.
Farage, who supports the crypto industry, has said that because Harborne’s donations were intended to cover his security expenses, he was not required by law to declare them. Reform UK recently said the gift falls within the purely personal gift exemption. Labor and other parties claim Harborne’s donations are subject to the rule and the gift was referred to the Parliamentary Commissioner last month.
The parliamentary commissioner for standards, Daniel Greenberg, is to investigate Farage under Rule 5 of the code of conduct, which forces lawmakers to “conscientiously comply” with their interest registration requirements, the Guardian said.
The Reform UK leader does not appear on the commission’s list of current investigations.
In April, BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo said in an op-ed for CoinDesk that he had given the party £4 million since the start of the year.
The UK government imposed a moratorium on political crypto donations in March, citing a whistleblower warning that digital assets could be used to channel foreign money into UK politics. The ban covers donations of any size and will be written into the Representation of the People Bill with criminal penalties for non-compliance.
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