Investigating British multimillionaire Arron Banks' alleged links with Russia, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) obtained a cache of emails belonging to Brexit's largest donor, which revealed previously undisclosed meetings between Banks and the Russian ambassador in London, The Times reported.
"Let them investigate. All of this just makes me look like an international man of mystery," Banks has said while commenting on a possible probe.
In the run-up to the Brexit vote, at least three business deals were on Banks' table, with one of them related to a stake in Russia's state-owned diamond mining company Alrosa, according to the emails.
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The New York Times quoted Banks as saying that the deals were offered to him, but that he has never acted on them.
"After the wholesale theft of my emails, there is still no smoking gun there," he noted.
Testifying before the parliamentary Digital, Culture and Media Select Committee to clarify his alleged Russian ties in June, Banks said that he was a victim of a "political witch-hunt."
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"I'm frankly sick and tired of this. The reason I went into the referendum was I have a different version of what the future of this country is. I respect your right to disagree with that and I know that you're all Remainers, you have a vested interest in trying to discredit the Brexit campaign," he pointed out.
"I find this whole world of endless accusations being made without any proof quite extraordinary," Farage said.
Russia's ownalleged meddling in the Brexit vote came to the fore as the NCA moved to cooperate with US special counsel Robert Mueller, whose team is investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. Moscow rejects all the allegations as unfounded.
