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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Jail sentence for Lib Dem donor | Jail sentence for Lib Dem donor |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| A millionaire businessman whose company gave the Lib Dems more than £2m has been jailed for two years after being branded "dishonest" by a judge. | A millionaire businessman whose company gave the Lib Dems more than £2m has been jailed for two years after being branded "dishonest" by a judge. |
| Michael Brown, 40, had admitted committing perjury and making a false declaration to obtain a passport. | Michael Brown, 40, had admitted committing perjury and making a false declaration to obtain a passport. |
| The judge at London's Southwark Crown Court said Brown was guilty of "very deliberate and pointed" dishonesty. | The judge at London's Southwark Crown Court said Brown was guilty of "very deliberate and pointed" dishonesty. |
| Brown, who is based in Spain, became the Lib Dems' biggest donor before the general election. | Brown, who is based in Spain, became the Lib Dems' biggest donor before the general election. |
| There is no suggestion the court case has anything to do with the party. | |
| In July, he pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the Passport Office in November 2005 when he claimed he had lost his previous passport in a washing machine. | |
| Also in July, he admitted he had made a false statement in the High Court in 2005. | |
| Election gift | |
| Mr Brown was arrested at his villa in Majorca earlier this year by British and Spanish police as he celebrated his 40th birthday. | |
| Mr Brown, a 40-year-old tax exile, is one of Scotland's wealthiest men, with an estimated fortune of about £10m. | |
| He was the subject of an Electoral Commission investigation last year after it emerged he was not registered vote in the UK - despite bankrolling the Lib Dems' election campaign to the tune of £2.4m. | |
| But the watchdog later found it was "permissible" for the party to have accepted the cash from the financier's UK-based company 5th Avenue Partners Ltd. | |
| Mr Brown later said he gave the money because he believed in then leader Charles Kennedy's ability as a future prime minister "but not the muppets who purport to serve him". |