Exclusive: Asians emerge as major donors to political parties

ASIAN business leaders have emerged among the most prominent donors to UK political parties in the second quarter of 2025, new figures from the Electoral Commission showed.

Among individual Asian donors, Kamal Pankhania and Haridas (Harish) Sodha stood out with £100,000 contributions each. Pankhania’s gift to the Conservatives in June and Sodha’s support for Labour in April were the largest Asian donations recorded during the second quarter of this year, data released on September 4 showed.

Pankhania is the chief executive of Westcombe Group, a family-owned property and development company best known for buying historic Grade I and Grade II listed buildings and converting them into homes. He and his brother Sunil took over the running of the company in 2003 from their father, Vraj Pankhania, who remains chairman.

Sodha, who fled Uganda during Idi Amin’s 1972 expulsion of Asians, has built a career in travel services.

A graduate in business administration from the University of Bath (1977), he cofounded Key Travel before going on to establish Diversity Travel, which arranges travel for NGOs and charities working in difficult regions. He is also director of City Eco Hotel Limited.

Other major contributions came from Dr Selva Pankaj, chief executive of Regent Group, a London-based education provider. He gave £60,000 to the Tories in May.

Dr Selva Pankaj www.easterneye.biz

A Sri Lanka-born accountant turned entrepreneur, Dr Pankaj oversees several colleges and training institutes across the capital. Malik Karim, an investment banker and Tory fundraiser who has hosted events for former prime minister Rishi Sunak, donated £55,500 in May and June.

Labour also received £20,000 in April from Lord Waheed Alli, a media entrepreneur and long-standing party supporter.

The Liberal Democrats also recorded steady contributions.

Businessman Sudhir Choudhrie, a long-time backer of the party, gave a total of £16,666 during April to June. Tushar S Prabhu added £5,000 in June, and Ramesh Dewan contributed £3,330 in May.

Data confirmed that Tories remain the single largest recipient of political donations, raising £2.9 million in the second quarter. This is more than Labour and Reform UK combined, and follows the £3.4m the opposition party collected in the first quarter.Labour raised £2.6m, much of it from trade unions, while Reform UK collected £1.3m.

The Conservative party’s statement on the donations stressed that it had once again outpaced Labour and Reform UK. “The Conservatives have reported £2.9m in donations in the 2nd quarter of 2025, continuing to raise far more than any other party – for the third quarter running,” the party said.

Jackie Killeen, director of Electoral Administration and Regulation, said, “The UK political finance regime has high levels of transparency, and we know that voters are interested in where parties get their money from. This publication is an important part of delivering this information for voters.

“However, there are parts of the system that need strengthening, and we have been calling for changes to the law for some time. The UK government’s proposed reforms to the political finance regime have the potential to improve the strength of donation controls and ensure voters can have confidence in the political finance system. We will continue to work with the government to ensure any changes are evidence based and workable in practice.”

Labour continues to rely heavily on union funding, with £1.67m in the second quarter coming from Unite, GMB and other affiliated unions.

The party also reported an £80,000 donation from Activepine, a property company owned by businessman Maqbool Ahmed.

Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, secured £1.3m in donations, including contributions from Greybull Capital, hedge fund manager Johan Christoferson, and treasurer Nick Candy. While the figure was significantly below Tory and Labour totals, it marked a steady inflow from wealthy backers. The latest data revealed that while bigticket donors remain engaged across the political spectrum, Tories continue to enjoy a clear financial advantage.