MP Brandon Lewis defends donation from businesswoman reportedly linked with Russian oligarch
He says all his donations are “properly and transparently declared and published and comply fully with the law”
A Norfolk MP has faced fresh criticism after it emerged he had received more money from a Russian-born businesswoman reportedly linked with a sanctioned oligarch.
The latest register of MPs’ financial interests shows Sir Brandon Lewis took £5,000 in a single donation in February from Lubov Chernukhin – one of the Conservative Party’s biggest donors.
It means in the last decade, the Great Yarmouth MP has received nearly ÂŁ40,000 from Mrs Chernukhin, the wife of Vladimir Chernukhin, a multimillionaire businessman who served under Putin as a junior minister, but later fled Russia.
She has previously been linked with Suleiman Kerimov – a man known to be close to Vladimir Putin – after she was named as a director of a company owned by him in documents seen by the BBC.
Both she and her husband hold British citizenship, making her political donations entirely legal.
She is the largest female donor in the history of British politics and has given more than ÂŁ2.1m to the Conservative party.
Sir Brandon has said all his donations are “properly and transparently declared and published and comply fully with the law.”
He has previously defended accepting donations from Ms Chernukhin, saying that he “would absolutely defend the right of any British citizen, including the people who have donated to myself and others, to play their full part in our democracy.”
But Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Great Yarmouth, Keir Cozens, has criticised the MP.”Part-time Tory MP Brandon Lewis’ focus is on lining his own pockets and delivering jobs for himself,” he said.
“My focus as your full-time MP would be on putting more money in your pocket and delivering good jobs for local people.”
Sir Brandon has faced growing criticism for his non-parliamentary work, which has seen him take up several jobs, earning him ÂŁ400,000 in addition to his ÂŁ86,584 MP salary.