Whistleblower ‘outed as gay by Number 10 aide’ says official Leave campaign ‘cheated’ in EU referendum
Shahmir Sanni, the whistleblower who says he was outed as being gay, has claimed Vote Leave "cheated" during the Brexit campaign
A WHISTLEBLOWER claims the official Brexit campaign “cheated” during the referendum campaign.
Funding surrounding Vote Leave’s links to another campaign BeLeave are at the centre of the allegations.
Shahmir Sanni claimed the designated group used it to get around strict spending limits set by the Electoral Commission.
Vote Leave has strongly denied wrongdoing and said the £625,000 donated to BeLeave was within the rules.
Mr Sanni told Channel 4 News: “I know that Vote Leave cheated... I know that people have been lied to and that the referendum wasn’t legitimate.”
Mr Sanni went to the Electoral Commission with two other pro-Brexit friends on Thursday, who say they helped the Vote Leave campaign two years ago, Channel 4 have reported.
He was in a relationship with senior Vote Leave figure Stephen Parkinson - now Theresa May’s political secretary - at the time of the referendum.
Mr Sanni said that he and BeLeave’s co-founder Darren Grimes always reported to Mr Parkinson.
He said: “There was no time where anything BeLeave did didn’t go through Stephen.”
In the run-up to the referendum, Vote Leave donated £625,000 to Grimes with the cash used to pay a Canadian data firm.
Sanni claimed: “In effect they used BeLeave to over-spend, and not just by a small amount ... Almost two-thirds of a million pounds makes all the difference and it wasn’t legal.”
Mr Parkinson said he was “saddened” by the “factually incorrect and misleading” statements by Mr Sanni and his lawyers.
He added: “At the relevant time during the referendum period, the commission advised Vote Leave that it was permissible to make a donation in the way it proposed to do to BeLeave.
“Twice since the referendum the commission has investigated this matter, and twice it has found no evidence of wrongdoing. A third investigation into the same issue is currently taking place.
“The Electoral Commission has not contacted me in relation to any of these inquiries, but I will of course be happy to assist in them if they wish me to do so.
“I firmly deny the allegations in the programme.
Mr Grimes also denies all the allegations, Channel 4 said.
Boris Johnson has said claims that the officially designated Brexit campaign "cheated" during the European Union referendum were "utterly ludicrous".
"#VoteLeave won fair & square - and legally. We are leaving the EU in a year and going global #TakeBackControl #GlobalBritain," the Foreign Secretary wrote on Twitter.
A Vote Leave spokesman said: “We will as appropriate share any relevant findings with the Electoral Commission, again as we have always done.”
An Electoral Commission spokeswoman said: “The commission has a number of investigations open in relation to campaigners at the EU Referendum; it does not comment on live investigations.”
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