Report to National Crime Agency of £5m Farage gift is ‘deeply serious’ | Nigel Farage

The revelation that a cryptocurrency billionaire’s £5 million gift to Nigel Farage was reported to the National Crime Agency by bankers over concerns it might have been money laundering has been described as “shocking and extremely serious”.

Responding to the Guardian report, Labor Party leader Anna Turley also called on Farage to “come and co-operate with the NCA openly”.

The fresh pressure on the Reformed UK leader comes a day after he tried to shrug off the pressure on his finances by resigning from his seat in Clacton-on-Sea by seeking to stand in the resulting by-election. All the other main parties announced they would boycott the contest.

However, Farage faced fresh questions about the gift in relation to the NCA after the Guardian first revealed in April that Farage had been given £5 million by Thailand-based Reform donor Christopher Harborne.

Turley said: “This is a stunning and extremely serious allegation. The circumstances surrounding Nigel Farage’s secret £5 million ‘gift’ are absolutely appalling.”

“Farage has been dragged into a huge immoral scandal and attempts to distract him will not go down well with the public. He is helplessly flailing and unable to tell his story properly and working people will conclude that he is the only one involved.”

“The reform leader must finally come clean. He must publicly pledge to cooperate with the National Crime Agency, confess to the parliamentary watchdog about his finances and face the consequences.”

Farage was given until 1pm on Tuesday to respond to the Guardian before reporting that bankers had contacted the NCA about the gift. He made a video speech at 14:00 and announced that there would be a by-election in Clacton.

The Guardian understands bankers submitted a suspicious activity report (SAR) to the NCA regarding the gift from Harborne on May 16, 2024. SAR is not evidence of wrongdoing; rather, it is an invitation for the agency to review the transaction to determine whether there are grounds to investigate further. It’s not the same as a criminal complaint.

Harborne’s lawyers claimed in correspondence with the Guardian that Farage received the money on April 5, 2024. They did not provide a substantive response to detailed questions regarding the gift and the SAR submitted to the NCA.

In one of the letters sent to the Guardian, Farage said he had no knowledge of the SAR. He added: “I have no reason to doubt the ultimate source of the money.”

Farage has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

On Wednesday morning, Reform deputy leader Richard Tice accused the NCA of leaking its financial information to the Guardian.

“You know, there’s the National Crime Agency who have leaked to the Guardian my company’s bank statements, individual bank transfers, copies of private conversations between me and bankers,” he told Times Radio.

“There’s literally a criminal situation going on at the highest level of criminal agency in the country, and frankly, I’m pretty upset about it.”

Farage gave different explanations for what the money from Harborne was for, insisting he had no obligation to disclose it as he was not a politician at the time, and claimed it had no bearing on his decision to stand in the 2024 general election.

According to financial industry sources, Farage received at least part of the £5 million after announcing on May 23, 2024 that he would not run for parliament, saying “it was not the right time for me”. The balance of the money was received shortly before he changed his mind and announced he would run for the seat of Clacton in Essex on June 3, 2024.

When asked about the SAR, Farage repeated his claim that information relating to £5 million had been obtained illegally. He said he was not aware of any “discussions” with the NCA regarding transactions involving him.

An NCA spokesman said: “The NCA does not confirm or deny receipt of SARs or comment on how SARs are used. SARs are confidential and any breach of this confidentiality risks committing a whistleblowing offense under the Proceeds of Crime Act.”

Reform England was contacted to respond to Türkiye’s comments.

Meanwhile, the Clacton by-election looks set to go ahead despite calls from the Liberal Democrats for it to be postponed until a parliamentary inquiry into the £5m donation is completed.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “Can the government decide? [Farage is] whether he was allowed to resign, whether there was an unnecessary by-election, and whether he evaded that investigation.”

But Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, told the BBC’s Today programme: “My expectation is that there will be a complete waste of time in the preselection because one man wants to dive outside the rules.”