UKIP: John Wallace, Bath, Douglas Denny and Andrew Edwards

You may recall that we published details about two recent UKIP scams to raise money. See: LINK

The first concerned a site called UKIP West Sussex. They were soliciting donations via a private address:

The Treasurer,
UKIP West Sussex News,
22 Farm Avenue,
Horsham.

John Wallace is the man behind the rather amateurish website. He claimed that the site was a non-profit making operation merely to cover the cost of a new UKIP newspaper entitled' ‘UKIP News - West Sussex'.

Mr Wallace got rather indignant after seeing our article. Indeed, he got so angry that he posted the following statement in our comments section:

West Sussex isn't a branch, it's a county, and as such does not have a chairman. All funding received is distributed in full to the branches in the constituencies from which it emanates. Simple but effective.

I trust that you'll publish my response in full, and I should be pleased to answer any other allegations that you can produce.

Regards

John Wallace
W.Sussex County Organiser

So why did he tell Geoffry Collier – a UKIP member - that all proceeds raised by the site were going to be used to cover the publishing costs of a UKIP newspaper? So Mr Wallace has changed his story. How very suspicious!

We asked Mr Wallace to reply to all of the points originally raised by Barbara Booker on the British Democracy Forum:

'UKIP West Sussex' is listed by UKIP itself as a branch; it has a website that solicits (I quote), "New Membership, Membership Renewal and Donations"; it invites visitors to print off its membership form, headed "UKIP West Sussex - JOIN US!'; it asks for cheques to be posted to the same Storrington PO Box that is also given as John Wallace's mail address; and it makes no mention of the newspaper 'UKIP West Sussex News' which it supposedly exists merely to fund!

What does John Wallace do with membership and donation cheques that he receives at the Storrington PO Box? Send them to Head Office at Newton Abbot? Pay them into the SE Region bank account? Or does the West Sussex branch have a bank account of its own that it has omitted to register as an accounting unit with the Electoral Commission? Who gets the first year's subscription of new members signed up through the West Sussex branch website or UKIP West Sussex News?

Re the UKIP West Sussex News, I understand that the Horsham address given as that of its treasurer is also the address of Martin Bridewell, Horsham branch treasurer and South East Region treasurer. What does Mr Bridewell do with cheques sent to him as a result of the newspaper's appeal for donations towards its running expenses? Pay them into the Horsham branch bank account? The SE Region bank account? Or again, does the newspaper have its own bank account? Where did the funding come from to set the operation up in the first place? Which bank account settles the printer's bills?

John Wallace writes today in the Brighton Argus that he wants to become an MP, "to see transparency and honesty from both local and national government, and our elected representatives in Westminster". As editor of UKIP West Sussex News, some transparency and honesty about UKIP's West Sussex branch for which he is the only named official would seem a very good place to start.

End of quote.

Mr Wallace has declined to do so. He also declined to answer ANY of the questions raised by Greg Lance-Watkins. What a surprise!

The other UKIP scam concerned ‘Mainstream – UKIP’. They were seeking donations via

PO BOX 4508,
BATH,
BA1 0NU.

UKIP Head Office claimed that this had nothing to do with UKIP.

The PO Box was registered to someone at:

22 Wedmore Park,
Bath,
BA2 1JY.




Andrew Fear – a UKIP lackey, Farage sycophant and employee of dippy Derek Clark – was foolish enough to tell UKIPPERS that David Noakes and Richard Suchorzewski were believed to be responsible for this latest attempt to hoodwink UKIPPERS.

Mr Noakes and Mr Suchorzewski are former UKIP leadership candidates. Both left the Party in disgust after being subjected to a Farage instigated smear campaign.

Another UKIPPER also suggested that Andrew Edwards was involved in the scam. Mr Edwards used to be chairman of UKIP Bath.

Apparently, living in the city is all that you need to prove guilt!

It later transpired that a certain John Hallett lives at the address.

This is what Andrew Edwards had to say:

It's likely that two new UKIP fund-raising scams were revealed earlier today. The first is based in Sussex, where a non existent branch (UKIP West Sussex) is soliciting for donations. The second is based in my home City - Bath, and needless to say it's already been suggested that I might be behind it! Dippy Doug Denny has even suggested that I and Andrew Moffatt are one in the same person! Honestly, what planet is the man on????


Junuius says: Andrew Moffat stood against Douglas Denny in the General Election. He is a member of the BNP. Douglas Denny is an idiot. But he does wear nice boots!

Whatever, the scam (?) originating in Bath, possibly, is calling itself ‘Mainstream – UKIP’, and is again seeking donations. This one uses a P.O. Box number that has been traced to an address on a Housing Assoc. estate (ex-council). This flat is occupied by a, John Hallett, a man who travelled to Bath from London some years ago (at that time he was a UKIP member). On arriving in Bath, he spent some time in a homeless shelter, and sold the 'Big Issue' in Bath's city centre, before being given a council flat.

The question here is whether Mr Hallett is responsible for this possible scam, or is he an agent for someone else. I tend to believe the latter, as I doubt the poor chap has the wherewithal to instigate such a thing for himself. The current Bath Chairman is a local businessman, Richard Crowder, and I'd be more than surprised if he allowed Hallett to be a money collector for the Party, i.e., I doubt this is a local initiative!

End of quote.

UKIP’s leadership are strangely reluctant to discuss the fact that donations to UKIP are being obtained under false pretences.

But this has happened before. Remember the Ashford Call Centre scam?

Ashford was supposedly established to raise funds for UKIP. David Bannerman later admitted that less than 15% of Ashford's income ever reached UKIP! So where did the rest end up?

Donations made to UKIP simply vanished into thin air. Nigel Farage is the only man who can tell us where the money went. And he isn’t talking!

But it is interesting to note that Farage later paid £250,000 into a private bank account.