Asian business owners donate £611,000 to the Conservatives

Asian donors showed their support for the Conservatives by handing over £611,000 to the party over the past six months.

Dr Rami Ranger donated a generous £236,000 to the Tories in two instalments.

The millionaire owner of Sun Mark, a company that promotes sales of food, drink and other goods to 130 countries, was valued at £185 million in the latest edition of the Asian Media and Marketing Group’s Asian Rich List.

His latest cash donation of £128,000 was made in March and in December 2016 he handed the Conservatives £108,000.

Dr Ranger’s daughter Reena is the party’s candidate in Birmingham Hall Green.

She has promised to hold job and apprenticeship fairs to boost employment in the area if elected and told Eastern Eye her family decided to support the party because of what they saw as shared values including education and enterprise.

Sir Anwar Pervez, who is valued in the rich list at £2 billion and is chairman of the Bestway Group, made donations of £50,000 and £57,000 to the Conservatives in March and May.

Lord Dolar Popat, a Tory peer who arrived in London with £10 in his pocket in 1971, handed the Conservatives £25,000 in May.

Other donations by prominent Asians published by the Electoral Commission included £10,000 by Lord Ranbir Suri, a jewellery magnate who was given a peerage in 2014.

Tarsem Dhaliwal, the chief executive officer of supermarket chain Iceland, also gave the party £10,000 and Sarbjit Singh Jhooty, made a donation of £5,000.

Another Asian to dig deep for Theresa May’s party was Gursamarjit Singh, who made two donations totalling £40,000.

Anglesource, a company owned by billionaire brothers Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora, who have a significant stake in the north of England discount store chain B&M, gave the Tories £50,000.

The only prominent Asian businessman to donate to another party was Sudhir Choudhrie who gave £50,000 to the Liberal Democrats in February.

He is the Lib Dems’ adviser on India and has monthly meetings with Tim Farron.

The largest donation to the Conservative Party came from its treasurer, Michael Davis, who gave the party £317,000.

The South African-born former mining executive is overseeing the party’s fundraising

efforts, which have targeted wealthy businesspeople and city figures.

Former Formula One boss Max Mosley was the most generous private donor to the

Labour party, giving £300,000 earlier this year.