ASIAN companies and donors contributed generously to political parties in the third quarter of this year, Electoral Commission data revealed last Thursday (4).
London-based private capital specialist Sunaina Haldea topped the list of individual donors, giving £50,000 to the Conservative party in September, while Sudhir Choudhrie gave a combined sum of £27,499 to the Liberal Democrats between July and September.
Companies with Asian founders also featured prominently in the latest list.
Sir Anwar Pervez
Westcombe Developments Limited, a property firm associated with entrepreneurs Kamal, Sunil and Vraj Pankhania, donated £100,000 to the Conservatives in August.
Westcombe is known for converting historic grade I and grade II listed buildings into residential properties.
London Town Group of Companies Ltd, led by Koolesh Shah and his son, Nikhil Shah, gave £50,000 to the Conservatives. Koolesh is also the co-chair of the Conservative Friends of India and runs philanthropic initiatives via the Koolesh Shah Family Foundation.
Bestway Wholesale Ltd, founded by Sir Anwar Pervez, gave £50,000 to the Tories. The company is among the UK’s largest independent food and drink wholesalers. Fenchurch Advisory Partners, set up by entrepreneur Malik Karim, gave £28,000 to the party.
Kamal Pankhania
The Tories were given £7m in donations, while Labour received £2.6m, the Electoral Commission said.
Director of electoral administration and regulation, Jackie Killeen, said, “The UK political finance system has high levels of transparency, and we know that voters are interested in where parties get their money from. This quarterly publication is an important part of delivering this information for voters.”
Sunaina Haldea
Haldea featured for the first time in the party donors list this year; she founded Cebile Capital (a private capital advisory), which was acquired by Raymond James, and now holds senior roles in the global private-equity advisory sector.
Born in India, Haldea is seen as a leading figure in finance and a campaigner for diversity in private capital.
Veteran businessman Choudhrie is known for his diverse portfolio, which includes healthcare and property interests and is a longtime political donor to the Lib Dems.
The Tories benefited from sizeable Asian donations: Mandeep Singh gave £25,000 in August, while Karim gave £20,000.
Rocktel Services Limited, which lists Karim Paul Nakhla and Susan Elizabeth Nakhla as directors, made two donations of £10,000 each to Labour during the third quarter. Businessman Ramesh Dewan gave £3,153 to the Liberal Democrats in September.
Meanwhile, Mohammad A Chohan donated £2,000 to the Tories through two separate donations in July.
Glass Express Midlands Ltd, whose director is Arun Photay, donated £7,500 to the Tories in July.
During the past quarter, Reform, led by Nigel Farage, secured £9m from businessman Christopher Harborne, in one of the largest political donations in British history.
The contribution from Harborne, an aviation entrepreneur who has invested in cryptotechnology, was just shy of a record £10m donation to the Tories in 2022.
Koolesh Shah www.easterneye.biz
It put Reform in the top position for political donations in the third quarter, receiving a total of £10.5m.
Data from the Electoral Commission showed London-based care firm Goodcare Limited donated £10,000 to Reform UK in September.
The company is led by Dr Arujuna Sivanathan and Karthika Sivanathan.
Killeen said, “We know 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 help ensure voters can have confidence in the political finance system. We will continue to work with the government so that any changes are evidence based and workable in practice.”
