Arron Banks says his meetings with the Russian ambassador make him look like ‘an international man of mystery’

The National Crime Agency (NCA) is examining evidence of new Russian links to Arron Banks, the Brexit campaign’s largest donor.

The crime-fighting agency has been handed a cache of the millionaire businessman’s emails that reveal undisclosed meetings between him and the Russian ambassador in London.

The leaked communications show that Banks was offered three Russian business deals during the Brexit campaign — two more than previously thought — including a gold mine venture in Guinea, west Africa, and a lucrative stake in the privatisation of Alrosa, Russia’s state-controlled diamond miner.

One of the gold deals came from the director of a bank closed in 2014 amid suspicions of Russian money-laundering.

Banks said he did not take part in any of the deals.

The NCA is