http://www.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,2054890,00.html
BNP faces inquiry over US fundraisingMatthew Taylor
Thursday April 12, 2007
The Guardian
The British National party is being investigated by the Electoral Commission after the Guardian revealed senior figures in the far right group had set up a front organisation in an attempt to raise money from sympathisers in the United States.
Officers from Scotland Yard's domestic extremism desk took up the case after a series of links between the BNP and fundraising group Civil Liberty were revealed last month. A spokeswoman for the police confirmed that a file had been passed to the Electoral Commission, which is now taking the lead in the inquiry. Evidence of any offences would be referred to the Met's special prosecutions unit and the Crown Prosecution Service.
Since 2001 it has been illegal for a political party to accept overseas donations of more than £200, and party officials breaking the law face a year's imprisonment or a £5,000 fine. The Guardian found that Civil Liberty is run by senior BNP activists with all the money donated through its website going to the BNP's regional headquarters in the north-east.
It also uncovered an audio tape of the BNP chairman, Nick Griffin, speaking at a US conference organised by a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, in which he calls on sympathisers to support BNP members by giving money to Civil Liberty.