NCA Probes Reform UK Funding After Bankers Flag Untraced Cash
Bankers have filed at least four suspicious activity reports concerning Reform UK donations, highlighting the challenges financial institutions face in tracing political funds and enforcing anti-money laundering rules.
Bankers have filed at least four suspicious activity reports with the National Crime Agency regarding transactions involving senior Reform UK figures, including leader Nigel Farage and deputy leader Richard Tice.
The alerts cover multiple funding channels, including a £5m gift to Farage from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne. However, the most complex referral centres on a £1m donation routed through an Australian money exchange platform called Oneify.
The funds were sent by Fiona Cottrell to Britain Means Business, a company that acts as a fundraising vehicle for Reform UK. Tice, a director of the company, immediately transferred £500,000 to the party during a reported cash crunch in the final weeks of the 2024 election campaign.
Banks were unable to determine the ultimate source of the £1m. The money arrived in Cottrell’s account in multiple dollar tranches before being moved to Oneify. Because the origin of these deposits could not be verified, the NCA has asked Austrac, its Australian counterpart, for assistance in tracing the funds.
The routing raised compliance flags due to Cottrell’s son, George Cottrell. He is a convicted fraudster who operates as an unofficial adviser to Farage and maintains close ties to major donors. Bankers noted that Fiona Cottrell is understood to be of relatively modest means, while her son’s criminal history classifies him as a politically exposed person requiring enhanced due diligence.
A separate chain of transactions involving Tice and George Cottrell also triggered banking alerts. On 2 December, Tice received a £78,100 short-term loan from Cottrell into his company, Tisun Investments. The same day, Tisun sent approximately £92,000 towards a property purchase in Dubai.
By late December, Tisun had sent a total of around £650,000 to the Dubai development. On 7 January, Tisun donated £613,000 to Reform UK. In late February, Tisun received a £655,000 refund described as a mortgage overpayment for the Dubai property, after which Tice sent £80,000 to George Cottrell, apparently repaying the initial loan.
These referrals highlight the operational pressures on the UK’s anti-money laundering infrastructure. While SARs are intelligence indicators rather than proof of crime, the sheer volume of reports submitted to the NCA annually means investigations into cross-border political financing face significant delays.
