LONDON, October 22 (RAPSI) - The Electoral Commission, UK independent elections watchdog, has revealed that a £28,000 donation to the Conservative Party from a company linked to Russian banker Andrei Borodin was inadmissable, TASS reported on Wednesday.
In the wake of the allegations, the party has resolved to repay the donation.
The money was given to the party for a portrait of Margaret Thatcher at one of the its fundraising events last summer. The commission found that the painting was purchased by a company linked to Borodin, former president of the Bank of Moscow.
Russian authorities opened a criminal case against Borodin and his deputy Dmitry Akulinin in late 2010. They have been charged with embezzling 12.76 billion rubles (over $400 million) from the Moscow budget via a loan to the Premier Estate company.
Borodin fled Russia and was granted UK asylum in February 2013.
Moscow's Tverskoy District Court issued in on August arrest warrants for Borodin and Akulinin. The Moscow City Court earlier in October upheld the ruling.