U.K. Police Drop Criminal Probe Into Brexit Campaign

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The U.K.’s National Crime Agency dropped an investigation into whether Brexit-supporting campaign Leave.EU breached electoral law, saying there was insufficient evidence to justify any further criminal probe.

Arron Banks, Elizabeth Bilney, Leave.EU and Better for the Country Ltd. were cleared over the 8 million pounds ($10 million) in loans to fund the campaign to exit the European Union.

“The NCA has found no evidence that any criminal offenses have been committed” under election law or company law, it said on its website Tuesday. “The NCA has not received any evidence to suggest that Mr. Banks and his companies received funding from any third party to fund the loans, or that he acted as an agent on behalf of a third party.

Earlier this month, the Metropolitian police also dropped its investigation, saying that while Leave.EU made some “technical breaches” of the law when it comes to the spending reports it submitted for its campaign, there wasn’t enough evidence to continue the investigation. An investigation into Vote Leave and BeLeave’s spending is continuing, the police said.

In February, the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office fined Leave.EU and a linked insurance company 120,000 pounds for serious breaches of electronic marketing laws, connected to how it used data analytics for political purposes.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Elser in London at celser@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net

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