Westminster Development Services Limited, established by a consortium of investors led by the Hinduja Group, donated £50,000 to the UK Conservative Party during the election campaign in July. Company records show the firm is part-owned by Prakash Hinduja’s AMC Project Services Limited. This came only ten days after Prakash Hinduja and his wife Kamal were found guilty of exploitation and illegal employment by a Swiss court, and sentenced to four years and six months in prison. Prakash Hinduja is one of the UK’s wealthiest men.
The couple chose not to attend court proceedings, citing ill health. They were, however, acquitted of the more serious charge of human trafficking. The Conservatives have said that donations to the party are declared “properly and transparently” to the Electoral Commission. The donation from Westminster Development Services Limited raised concerns over the Conservative Party’s transparency, after other donors’ revelations and various ongoing scandals in politics.
Westminster Development Services is best known for redeveloping the site of the former Old War Office building on Whitehall as a Raffles hotel complex. The firm has since declined to comment on the matter. The Hinduja family reportedly donated equally to both the Conservative and Labour parties two weeks before the UK went to the polls.
The revelations come as part of the on-going investigation into foreign interference in UK politics, whereby it was revealed that nine Russian businessmen who have donated approximately £3.5m to the UK were included in a leaked database that revealed the extent of political donations made by SCL, Cambridge Analytica’s parent company. The amount donated is in breach of the political donation rules for foreign nationals
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