Vote Leave broke the law during the EU referendum by exceeding legal spending limits, a Brexit activist has claimed.
Shahmir Sanni told Channel 4 News that the official Brexit campaign used a different group, BeLeave, to overspend.
Vote Leave chief Dominic Cummings has already denied the claim and said he checked with the Electoral Commission before donating money to the group.
“I know that, that Vote Leave cheated… I know that, that people have been lied to and that the referendum wasn’t legitimate,” Mr Sanni told Channel 4 News.
“Leaving the European Union, I agree with.
“But I don’t agree with losing what it means to be British in that process; losing what it means to follow the rules; losing what it means to be quite literally a functioning democracy.”
Mr Sanni told the Observer that Vote Leave donated £625,000 to the founder of BeLeave, Darren Grimes, before the June 2016 referendum.
Vote Leave would have gone over its campaign spending limit of £7m if it had spent the money.
Mr Sanni claimed Mr Grimes was not in control of how the money from Vote Leave was spent and everything they did they passed through ground campaign manager Mr Parkinson – who is now the prime minister’s political secretary.
He told the newspaper that most of the donation went to Canadian data firm Aggregate IQ, which has been linked to Cambridge Analytica – the firm facing claims it amassed the data of millions of people without their consent.
Mr Sanni said he and two other pro-Brexit friends reported the overspending allegation to the Electoral Commission on Thursday. -BBC
