Dear Vole, feck off, love from Grant Shapps

I sent the Chair of the Conservative Party a letter asking why they won't return money donated by Asil Nadir, recently jailed for stealing £29m from his Polly Peck empire. I included a quotation from the Touche Ross report which made the point that the donations were made from companies without the permission or knowledge of the directors or shareholders. 

They have, obviously, told me to piss off, with a particularly weaselly slant: apparently they've never had a donation from Asil Nadir:

Dear Mr Vole, I am writing on behalf of the Party Chairman, The Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP, to thank you for your recent email. In response to your point I would say that the Conservative Party has no record of having received donations from Asil Nadir. Donations were received from Polly Peck companies more than 22 years ago; these were accepted in good faith from what was then considered to be a leading British company. We have seen no evidence that money donated to the Conservative Party from the Polly Peck group was stolen. But we have consistently said, as Norman Fowler, then Party Chairman, did in 1993, ‘obviously if it is proved that that money was stolen it will be returned’. Thank you, once again, for taking the time and trouble to get in touch.  

Yours sincerely, Oliver  

Oliver Wells 

Office of the Party Chairmen Conservative Campaign Headquarters

Here's the Touche Ross quotation again:

Touche Ross, the administrators of Polly Peck, wrote a letter – widely reported four years ago – to the party's central office claiming that £365,000 came from money defrauded from the Polly Peck empire."It is the contention of the administrator that Mr Nadir is liable to repay the sums concerned as a result of his fraud and/or breach of fiduciary duty and/or malfeasance as a director," the letter concluded. "I would urge you to return the donations to Polly Peck so that the creditors can at least obtain some small measure of compensation from this unfortunate affair." 

So let's do this again, this time with feeling:

Dear Oliver,thanks very much for your letter. It seems - as you state - to be the case that Mr Nadir did not directly donate to the Conservative Party. However, as the extract from the administrators' report shows, he is responsible for the Polly Peck and subsidiary company donations, and that the donations were secured as a result of fraudulent activity and Nadir's breaches of company law and his fiduciary duties. As such, the liquidators  requested that you repay the money. 
1. Why have you not done so? 

2. Mr Nadir was a fugitive from justice for thirty years, and the Conservative Party must have been well aware of numerous police inquiries. Why did you not feel that you should investigate the origins of these donations? 

3. Mr Nadir was convicted of a number of crimes. Are you aware that it is a criminal offence under the Proceeds of Crime Act and its forerunners to refrain from reporting potentially fraudulent transaction and receipt of the profits of crime? Given the public nature of Mr Nadir's flight, the collapse of his companies and his eventual conviction, can you confirm to me that you have indeed reported the receipt of these monies to the police? I am not convinced, from reading the Act, that 'good faith' is a defence in law - particularly since Mr Nadir publicly fled the country while facing charges, and since he has subsequently been convicted.  

4. Does Mr Nadir's criminal conviction on multiple counts of fraud, theft and breaches of law not constitute proof that these funds were stolen? Do you have information which was not available to Touche Ross when they wrote to you all those years ago?
Love and hugs, Vole

Clearly Mr Nadir and his money are on the 'second chance' list alongside Hunt, Mitchell, Coulson and Brooks. 

PS. I wrote to my MP, Paul Uppal, about this. No reply… of course.