Tories received £50,000 donation from business linked to convicted billionaire

The Conservatives received £50,000 in the dying days of the election campaign from a company linked to a billionaire who has been jailed for exploiting his domestic staff, Electoral Commission figures show.

Figures published on Monday show Westminster Development Services, a consortium responsible for redeveloping the Old War Office on Whitehall into a Raffles hotel, made the donation to the Tories on July 1.

According to Companies House, Westminster Development Services is up to 50% owned by AMC Project Services, which itself lists Prakash Hinduja, the chairman of the Hinduja Group and one of Britain’s richest men, as its owner.

Some 10 days earlier, on June 21, Hinduja and three members of his family had been jailed by a Swiss court after being convicted of exploiting domestic workers at their mansion in Geneva.

Hinduja and his wife Kamal received sentences of four years and six months, while their son Ajay and his wife Namrata were jailed for four years.

Exploiting workers

The court said the four were guilty of exploiting workers and providing unauthorised employment, but dismissed more serious charges of human trafficking. The Hindujas’ lawyers said the defendants planned to appeal against the decision.

The Conservative Party has been approached for comment.

Monday’s Electoral Commission figures confirmed the Conservatives struggled to raise funds throughout the election, receiving only £225,587 in the last week of the campaign.

In total, the party received just £1.8 million in private donations, around a fifth of the £9.5 million raised by Labour as it secured its commanding majority.

In the last week of the campaign, Labour raised £465,600, including a £250,000 donation from former professional poker player Derek Webb.

Mr Webb, now a proponent of tighter gambling regulations, had previously donated £550,000 to the party under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.

Labour also received £100,000 donations from both the GMB trade union and the Fire Brigades Union in the last week of the campaign.

The Liberal Democrats managed to raise £1.7 million over the course of the campaign, boosted by a £100,000 donation in the final week from food business GADF Holdings.

Reform UK raised a total of £1.6 million over the campaign, including £45,000 in the final week thanks in part to a £20,000 donation from businesswoman Margaret Hepburn, who lives in Monaco.

Political parties are required to provide weekly reports of donations of more than £11,180, after the Government increased the threshold from £7,500 in January.

Parties still have 30 days after receiving a donation to check that it is from a permissible source and decide whether to accept it.