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Brexit delay brings an opportunity to get to the truth about who funded the 2016 referendum before implementing its results. My latest on dark Russian money with @AtlanticCouncil. atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atla…
The evidence revealed thus far raises the suggestion that the 2016 referendum was targeted by a foreign adversary violating British sovereignty to undermine its democracy.
At the center of the story is the biggest political donation in British political history, from Arron Banks, whose finances are obscured behind offshore shell companies and who was offered limited and lucrative business opportunities by Russia in the months before the referendum.
While Banks insists he declined the offers, he maintains other personal and professional ties to Russia as well, and the UK Electoral Commission has “reasonable grounds to suspect” that he was not the true source of the money and that he and others knowingly concealed the truth.
Most of these facts have been unearthed by intrepid investigative journalists such as @carolecadwalla, who is quoted in the piece. Unfortunately, official UK investigations into this have proceeded at painstakingly slow fits and starts.
That's unacceptable for the same reason that similar questions about how far Russian espionage reached into the 2016 US campaign are likely to be answered by Robert Mueller before the 2020 presidential election takes shape—the public needs to know before making further decisions.
Investigators should use any Article 50 extension to develop findings quickly and share what they know with the public before Brexit is finalized. And British leaders should encourage investigators while also identifying this as a factor supporting a substantial Brexit delay.
Britons deserve nothing short of full truth and sovereignty when deciding whether to turn away from European integration after forty-six years.
