BRITAIN: A flamboyant financier who helped to bankroll the Liberal Democrats' general election campaign was jailed for two years yesterday after he admitted committing perjury and obtaining a passport by deception.
The court heard that Scottish tycoon Michael Brown (40), whose £2.4 million donation was the biggest in Liberal Democrat history, gave false information in an affidavit and then tricked the authorities into giving him a new passport so he could flee Britain.
Yesterday the Liberal Democrats tried to distance themselves from Brown, saying there was no connection between the party and the crimes for which he was sentenced. A spokesman said their investigations had revealed a "small number of bounced cheques" which they had decided should not prevent him from becoming a donor.
"[ We] acted in good faith at all times in relation to the receipt and expenditure of donations from his company, Fifth Avenue Partners. We conducted appropriate checks on the source of these donations within the statutory timescale."
Brown was arrested earlier this year at the villa he shared with his wife, Sharon, at Esporlas in Majorca.
His second home in Santa Ponsa and his offices in the capital, Palma, were also searched during the raid by Spanish and British detectives. His £400,000 yacht was impounded in a cove in the west of the island and his new Porsche Cayenne, a Bentley, paintings, computers and documents were seized.
Hours after he was led away, guests had been due to arrive for a party he was throwing to celebrate his birthday.
The whisky executive's son, who once admitted he had "lived a colourful life", subsequently pleaded guilty to perjury and passport deception.
Southwark crown court in London heard one offence was committed when Brown told the passport office last November that he had lost his previous passport in a washing machine. It had in fact been surrendered during a civil action brought against him by his former bank, HSBC.
He used the new passport to skip the country and fly to his villa in Spain.