Overseas hunt for Michael Brown cash

By Humphrey Carter THE truck-load of documents and computers confiscated by British and Spanish police from the jailed Scottish millionaire Michael Brown's Palma office in May could prove crucial to the police investigation into the £2.4 million he donated to the party last year. Brown, who was arrested at his Esporlas home on the outskirts of Palma while he celebrated his 40th birthday in April, was jailed for two years on Monday for “dishonesty” and also ordered to pay £80'000 costs, but the Liberal Democrats still face the threat of having to refund their record cash gift which bank-rolled their general election campaign. According to The Times, with which the Bulletin has been working closely on the Michael Brown story since last October, police investigating the donation have apparently traced the money back to one of four investors believed to have deposited funds in Brown's 5th Avenue Partners trading company which has offices in London, Geneva and Palma. While the Electoral Commission initially allowed the Lib Dems to keep the donation, it has made it clear any new information would be examined and if the police do prove that the money donated to the Lib Dems via Brown's 5th Avenue company, it could mean that the Lib Dems were given a foreign donation and political parties are not allowed accept such cash gifts in Britain. Both Lib Dems and the four investors are said to be helping police with the inquiry but, as the Bulletin reported on Monday, they have written to the party asking for their money back. Brown told this newspaper in October that, if the money was given back, he would donate in to charity in the Third World. However, it appears that the money's allegedly rightful owners are also over their investment. The Lib Dems were ordered to hand over all documents relating to the donation to the police in June and now investigators are waiting to get their hands on the truck-load of documents and data seized at Brown's central Palma offices. The Lib Dems have done their best to distance themselves from Brown's controversial donation. As it was made during the leadership of Charles Kennedy, who Brown admitted he was more interested in helping than the party itself, the party has tried to pass Kennedy the buck. But, the police may yet decide with whom the buck eventually stops.