UK Electoral Commission to probe PM Boris Johnson's flat refurbishment funding scandal
PM Boris Johnson during a speech at 10 Downing Street
After several allegations from the opposition party, Britain's Electoral Commission has decided to open a formal investigation against the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson about the refurbishment of his Downing Street apartment.
"We are now satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence or offences may have occurred," the Electoral Commission said. "We will therefore continue this work as a formal investigation to establish whether this is the case."
The investigation will focus on whether any transactions relating to the works at Downing Street within the regime regulated by the commission and whether such funding was reported as required or not.
Johnson has, however, denied these allegations and his spokeswoman has claimed that all donations, gifts and benefits were declared timely. He also declared that no funds from his Conservative Party were used for refurbishments.
As per the rules, anything spent over the set value of 30,000 pounds of taxpayer-funded allowance for the refurbishment of the apartment has to be met by the prime minister. Johnson has reportedly spent over 200,000 pounds on the refurbishment but it is still unclear if he used some loan or has misused the Conservative Party’s funds.
His opposition, the Labour Party, has demanded an explanation on the same.