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    Sky News investigation into MPs private donations Archived Message

    Posted by scrabb on January 9, 2023, 3:43 pm

    Another large donor where the public declarations leave ambiguity over the ultimate source of the funding is a little-known broadband provider from Blackburn.

    IX Wireless has channelled more than £138,000 of campaign donations to Conservative MPs since 2019, despite only having two staff members, one of whom lives in the United Arab Emirates.

    One of those politicians who received money from IX Wireless was Christian Wakeford, who was a Conservative MP at the time before defecting to the Labour Party in January 2022.

    He told Sky News he had no "understanding or details as to who they were, what they were doing or what they wanted" when the donation was made.

    Mr Wakeford said he had been told by Sir Jake Berry, a senior Tory MP and former party chairman, that there was a block of money from a donor available and to write an application for the funding.

    "We'd put those applications in," he said, "and we'd find out a month later whether those applications were successful and that the monies were going to our local Conservative association."

    "It was only at that time we were told the money had come from IX Wireless," Mr Wakeford said. "I'd never heard of them. The first I'd heard of them was the email telling us."

    Mr Wakeford said he now knows more about the company.

    Sir Jake was approached for comment but did not respond.

    On a visit to the headquarters of IX Wireless, Sky News found the office empty with flooded floors.

    Standing outside the company's front door, Sky News called IX Wireless and spoke to someone who said they were a receptionist.

    She confirmed that the address was correct, but would not say that she was inside the headquarters. After placing the call on hold for several minutes, she declined to answer any questions.

    Founded by the entrepreneur Tahir Mohsan in 2017, the company was a successor to Time, a successful British personal computer brand in the 1980s and 1990s.

    In 2005, Mr Mohsan's computer empire abruptly collapsed with £70m in debts, making 1,500 people redundant.

    Thousands of customers had to fight for refunds on products already ordered.

    Shortly after the company failed, Mr Mohsan left Britain for Dubai in the UAE.

    He has since turned his attention to installing broadband in the North West of England, receiving £675,000 of government funding to roll out high-speed internet in less connected areas of the country.

    The company connected 500 premises between August 2018 and June 2020, according to government data seen by Sky News.

    IX Wireless and Mr Mohsan did not return repeated requests for comment.

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