Lib Dems’ fugitive donor named his dog Charles (Kennedy) as a bitter joke

Convicted fraudster Michael Brown traced to Caribbean while his multiple identities raise questions for UK officials Waiters in the hotels along Punta Cana beach, a curve of white sand on the easternmost tip of the Dominican Republic, say the Scottish man in bermuda shorts is known as the owner of Charlie, a rottweiler-alsatian cross which is usually by his side. The pair have been seen in the Caribbean surf where Charlie liked to gnaw at discarded coconut shells. Last month, they were spotted in a gold Porsche Cayenne 4×4 as it bounced along the potholed roads to an exclusive golf course. But the dog’s owner, the Liberal Democrats’ fugitive donor Michael Brown, could not let the opportunity pass for a bitter joke at the expense of the party he once bankrolled. A former business associate claims Brown’s pet is named after Charles Kennedy, the ex-leader of the Liberal Democrats who accepted his gift. “He told me that he had given money to a political party and that his puppy was named after the leader. He thought it was funny,” said the one-time friend. Today the Guardian can reveal that fraudulently acquired legal documents enabled Brown to escape justice and begin a new life in the Caribbean. Brown, who gave the Lib Dems £2.4m of stolen money before being convicted of theft in his absence, duped the British authorities into giving him a passport under the name of Darren Patrick Nally in June 2008. At the time he was on bail in connection with a £60m fraud. The passport allowed him to leave Britain for a new, anonymous life in the Dominican Republic. Flitting between at least three properties nestled on white sand beaches and manicured golf courses, he applied for temporary residency and even enrolled on the country’s electoral register. Disclosure of the false passport raises serious questions for the Identity and Passport Service. At the time, images of Brown had featured in dozens of news articles and television programmes because of his sizeable gift to a political party. He already had a conviction from 2006 for obtaining a passport by deception. His fake passport enabled him to acquire the false Dominican documents. It is understood that police are investigating claims that he has acquired other British passports under stolen identities. The documents also show how Brown has changed his appearance while at the top of the City of London police’s most wanted list and on Crimestoppers’ most wanted list. While on the run, Brown was convicted and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for the theft of £8m, although the court was told he had stolen around £60m. Despite a court ruling that found that Brown’s donor firm 5th Avenue Partners was wholly fraudulent, Nick Clegg has refused to return the money that came from it. The Lib Dems have claimed that it was accepted in good faith. In his passport photograph, applied for in June 2008, Brown has grown a beard and his temples have gone grey. He had previously been clean-shaven and used to dye his hair strawberry blond. He may have been attempting to look a little older. Brown was then aged 42, while the real owner of his new identity was 47. Brown persuaded a judge that he was not a flight risk and should no longer have to wear an electronic tag. Living under strict bail conditions in Hampstead, north London, he had been forced to hand over his real passport and was expected to check in with police twice a week. In fact Brown had gone to great lengths to acquire a number of documents bearing false names while awaiting trial. He used the name Michael Brown when his local council registered him in August 2007, but in September he returned a document to Camden electoral services stating that his surname should be registered as Campbell-Brown. He used this name to set up bank accounts with Capital One and NatWest at a time when his assets were frozen by a court order. The Dominican documents show that by February 2010, he was sporting a deeper tan. Government officials said Brown’s false British passport would have been one of two documents he used to apply for permission to live in the country. His temporary residency card appears to show that Brown’s adopted identity of Nally is Irish. Brown was in fact born in Scotland and is a UK citizen. Brown’s electoral identity card was registered at Sea Horse Ranch, an exclusive resort in the north of the country where he lived in an £882,000 villa protected by armed security guards. He is said to have lived there for several months at least. Two men suspected of helping him flee Britain and adopt a false identity were arrested and questioned on Friday. The former friend, who says he lost hundred of thousands of dollars in a venture with Brown under his assumed name of Nally, said Brown was angered about the lack of support he had been given by politicians. “Darren gave them money, and they did not look after him,” he said. Marta Palomo, an estate agent who rents a four-bedroom house to Brown in a guarded estate a few hundred metres from the sea, said that she saw him two weeks ago. “I saw him in the house, and have spoken to him in the last week. He is busy, spends a lot of time in the capital city. He has had a place here for years,” she said. “He lives with his dog and a maid comes by and sometimes his wife comes over to visit,” she said. Brown’s wife Sharon Campbell lives in Mallorca. Brown told Palomo last week that he would be going away for a short time because a friend has been in hospital, she said. “I think he is out at the moment because his friend is ill, he has gone to see him in hospital. But I am sure he will be back,” she said. Manuel Angella, a local taxi driver who has driven Brown to the capital city of Santo Domingo, said: “Darren is a very good man. There are many worse people in this world,” he said. City of London police are negotiating to secure Brown’s return. No Briton has ever been forced to return from the Dominican Republic and there is no extradition treaty between the two countries. Liberal Democrats Dominican Republic Party funding Crime Rajeev Syal guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 12, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.