UKIP fined for late filing
Embattled political party UKIP has been fined £1,000 by the Electoral Commission for the ‘unacceptably late’ filing of its 2005 accounts
The delay was caused by the discovery of accounting irregularities by UKIP
treasurer and anti-ICAEW merger campaigner Bruce Lawson.
Donations totalling £118,000 failed to go through UKIP’s books, a move which
led Lawson to declare that he would step down if he discovered any more
accounting issues at the party. Speaking exclusively to Accountancy
Age, Lawson said the commission had placed details of a donation on its
website that Lawson had no record of in the books. ‘I went to the committee and
said if this ever happens again I’ll quit. In the course of finalising the 2005
accounts with the auditors it was sorted and solved.’