Pro-Brexit campaigner Arron Banks is facing a criminal inquiry into "suspected electoral law offences" relating to the EU referendum campaign.

The investigation was launched by the National Crime Agency (NCA) after a referral by the Electoral Commission.

The watchdog said there were "reasonable grounds" to suspect that Mr Banks was not the true source of £8m in loans made to the Better for the Country organisation, which ran his group Leave.EU.

A "number of criminal offences may have been committed", it added, also referring Leave.EU's chief executive Elizabeth Bilney for investigation.

Responding to the announcement, Mr Banks said he was "pleased" to have the chance to "finally put an end to the ludicrous allegations levelled against me and my colleagues".


He insisted there was "no evidence of any wrongdoing from the companies I own".

The Electoral Commission had been examining a reported £2m loan from Mr Banks and his group of insurance companies to Better for the Country.

It also looked at a reported £6m loan to the organisation by Mr Banks alone.

Nearly half of that - £2.9m - was used to fund spending in the 2016 EU referendum on behalf of Leave.EU as well as donations to other campaign groups, the commission said.

Bob Posner, the watchdog's director of political finance, said he suspected some of the money came from "impermissible sources" and that Mr Banks and Ms Bilney "knowingly concealed the true circumstances under which this money was provided".

Image: The National Crime Agency has launched an investigation

Mr Banks claimed he was only facing investigation by the NCA because of "intense political pressure from anti-Brexit supporters".

He added: "Isn't it funny that none of the financial contributions made by George Soros to British political campaigns are ever subject to any level of scrutiny by the Electoral Commission despite his being a foreign national."

Mr Banks has been a frequent critic of US-Hungarian investor Mr Soros, who has donated to the anti-Brexit Best for Britain campaign since the 2016 vote.

Ms Bilney accused the commission of having a "biased approach" and said she was confident she would be "exonerated".

She told BBC Radio 4's World At One: "I hope that the matter will be shortly concluded to demonstrate that no crimes have been committed."

Image: The investigations centre on spending during the EU referendum

"They are looking at it how they want to through their own biased lens," she added.

Earlier this year, the digital, culture, media and sport committee claimed Mr Banks wanted to "hide the extent of his contacts with Russia".

But Ms Bilney dismissed suggestions Russia was the source of some of the money.

"I run the group of companies where the money was from and we don't have any transactions that are from Russia," she said.

"I am completely comfortable that we have done everything above board."

The NCA said it would not normally investigate such matters, but that the "nature" of inquiries and "potential for offences to have been committed other than under electoral law" warranted its intervention.