Chris Huhne says £81,000 has been spent on four lawyers to clear Ashcroft to clear donations to Conservatives
The Electoral Commission consulted four lawyers – two Queen’s Counsel and two junior counsel – at a total cost of £81,000 before it cleared Lord Ashcroft’s donations to the Conservative Party through Bearwood Corporate Services, according to a Parliamentary answer to the Liberal Democrats.
Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:
“It is appalling that the Electoral Commission has had to go to four different lawyers, on top of its own legal team, at a total cost of £81,000 before they got the answer that they wanted, which was to give the all clear to Lord Ashcroft’s dodgy donations.
“The Electoral Commission should now publish all the legal advice so that others can make a judgement about whether to challenge this decision in the courts.
“This smacks of the sort of legal tourism we saw in the Government over the illegal war in Iraq and at Lehman’s before it collapsed, where some lawyers wouldn’t give the opinion they wanted so they moved on until they found one who would.”
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