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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 27 March 2018

Whistleblowers say Brexit campaign skirted finance rules

By DANICA KIRKA about the integrity of the
LONDON (AP) — A group of democratic process."
whistleblowers on Monday The allegations have
questioned the integrity of been presented to Brit-
Britain's vote to leave the ain's Electoral Commission
European Union, present- and come just days after
ing 50 pages of documents a prominent Labour Party
that they say prove the offi- politician called for a sec-
cial Brexit campaign group ond Brexit referendum
violated election finance once the true costs of leav-
rules on the way to winning ing the bloc become clear.
the 2016 referendum. Britain voted to leave the
They allege that the offi- EU in a June 2016 referen-
cial Vote Leave campaign dum, with 52 percent of
circumvented spending voters supporting Brexit.
limits by donating 625,000 They were first published
pounds ($888,000) to the last weekend as part of a
pro-Brexit student group wide-ranging investiga-
BeLeave but sending the tion of Cambridge Ana-
money directly to cam- lytica by Britain's Observer
paign consultant Aggrega- newspaper, together with
teIQ. The firm has long-term Channel Four and The New
links to Cambridge Ana- York Times. The U.S. Fed- Whistleblower Christopher Wylie who alleges that the campaign for Britain to leave the EU cheat-
lytica, the British consultant eral Trade Commission said ed in the referendum in 2016, speaking at a lawyer’s office to the media in London, Monday,
March 26, 2018. Chris Wylie's claims center around the official Vote Leave campaign and its links
accused of misusing Face- Monday that it is investi- to a group called BeLeave, which it helped fund. The links allegedly allowed the campaign to
book data to help Donald gating Facebook's privacy bypass spending rules.
Trump win the 2016 U.S. practices as a result of con- (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
presidential election, the cerns raised by earlier sto-
group says. ries in the series. made the donation to Be- been lied to and that the tronic message exchang-
"This not about re-fighting Campaign finance rules Leave, said Shahmir Sanni, referendum wasn't legiti- es, photos and a legal
the referendum," Chris Wy- limited Vote Leave's spend- a volunteer who helped mate." Attorney Tamsin Al- opinion presented to Brit-
lie, the central figure in the ing on the Brexit referen- run the grassroots student len laid out the evidence ain's Electoral Commission.
original Cambridge Ana- dum to 7 million pounds. group. "I know that Vote supporting the claims dur- “I respect the motives and
lytica revelations, told re- When Vote Leave got close Leave cheated," Sanni told ing a news conference in understand the feelings of
porters at a packed news to that limit during the final Britain's Channel 4 news. London, presenting journal- those who voted to remain
conference in London. "It's weeks of the campaign, it "I know that people have ists with printouts of elec- in the EU,” he said. q

UK Jewish groups accuse Labour of tolerating anti-Semitism

LONDON (AP) — Britain's have alleged that Jeremy ing "no to anti-Semitism." has allowed abuse to go groups acknowledging
main opposition leader Corbyn's Labour Party has They were joined by some unchecked. The latest furor that "anti-Semitic attitudes
vowed Monday that his shown a "repeated insti- Labour lawmakers who are erupted over a six-year-old have surfaced more often
Labour Party would have tutional failure" to address critical of their leader. Alle- Facebook post by Corbyn in our ranks in recent years,
"zero tolerance" for anti- anti-Jewish prejudice. gations of Labour anti-Sem- supporting the artist behind and that the party has
Semitism, after Jewish In an open letter, they said itism have grown since pro- a street mural that included been too slow in process-
groups accused him of fail- that "again and again, Jer- Palestinian socialist Jeremy anti-Semitic stereotypes. ing some of the cases that
ing to stamp out anti-Jew- emy Corbyn has sided with Corbyn was elected leader Corbyn has said he regrets have emerged." He said
ish prejudice within his left- anti-Semites rather than of Britain's main opposition not looking closely at the he was "sincerely sorry for
of-center party. Jews." party in 2015. Some in the "deeply disturbing and anti- the pain which has been
The Board of Deputies of Hundreds of protesters ral- party say Corbyn, a long- Semitic" mural before offer- caused," and vowed La-
British Jews and the Jew- lied outside Parliament on time critic of Israeli actions ing support to the artist. bour would have "zero tol-
ish Leadership Council Monday bearing signs read- against the Palestinians, Corbyn wrote to the two erance for anti-Semites."q