A mystery company which has zero employees, has never made a profit and is reportedly in more than $300,000 in debt.
Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick endured a car crash interview, after it emerged he had accepted a £75,000 donation from a mystery company which has zero employees, has never made a profit and is reportedly in more than $300,000 in debt.
Mr Jenrick, the frontrunner for the Conservative leadership, received three donations of £25,000 in July from The Spott Fitness, a fitness coaching app provider.
An investigation by Tortoise media has found that alongside having no employees or profit, in January Spott Fitness registered a loan from Centrovalli, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands.
The ownership of companies registered in the British Virgin Islands is not made public, leading Labour to question where the money donated to Mr Jenrick ultimately came from.
Appearing on Sky News before presenter Trevor Phillips, Jenrick was asked about the donations.
Phillips told Jenrick: “Someone’s wired you £75,000 and you don’t really know who they are?”, to which the Tory MP replied: “Well we do know who they are, it’s a company that does sports fitness technology in the UK and it’s a perfectly valid and legal donation.
“We’ve registered it in the correct way.”
Phillips asked: “Who owns the company and why are they giving you money?”
He went on to add: “We looked at the record on companies house, they have no employees, we don’t actually know the names of anybody you could tell us?”
Labour has called for an investigation into £75,000 of donations to Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick, saying it had “serious concerns” about the money’s ultimate origin.
Party chairwoman Ellie Reeves said in a letter to the Electoral Commission: “Donations to MPs must come from sources registered in the UK. It is clear that Mr Jenrick has serious questions to answer about the origin of these funds and their legality.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 117 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.