Sir Ehud Sheleg (Hebrew: אהוד שלג; born November 1955),[1] nicknamed Udi Sheleg, is a British-Israeli businessman, art dealer and political figure.[2][3]
Sir Ehud Sheleg | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 1955 (age 69) Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Nationality | Israeli British |
| Nickname | Udi Sheleg |
Early life
editSheleg was born in Tel Aviv, Israel but is quoted saying “I was brought up, albeit in Israel, with the sentiment of very strong ties to Britain. In the family of nations, this has to be my favourite one. Second to my homeland, of course".[4] His father served with the Royal Air Force in the Second World War.[5]
Career
editSheleg is a director of the Halcyon Gallery in London. It is 50% controlled through a British Virgin Islands company by the Tov Settlement, the Sheleg family trust. He donated over £3.4 million to the Conservative Party, between 2017 and 2019.[6]
In July 2019, he was appointed a Knight Bachelor by Theresa May in the 2019 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours and was named by Boris Johnson as the new Treasurer of the Conservative Party.[7][8] In April 2021, he completed his tenure as Treasurer and was succeeded by Malik Karim.[9]
Investigations
editIn 2022, Labour Party Chair Anneliese Dodds used her parliamentary privilege in The House of Commons to announce that she had written to her Conservative counterpart Oliver Dowden to raise questions over Sheleg’s 2018 donation to the Conservative party. The source for her allegation was a New York Times story, based on the illegal disclosure of a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR). The article claimed Sheleg’s donation came from his Ukrainian father-in-law, Sergei Kopytov, as part of Russian money infiltrating the UK.[10]
However, this claim was investigated by the National Crime Agency with the NCA’s Director of Operations, Steve Rodhouse, stating “As you will be aware, provided a donation comes from a permissible source, and was the decision of the donor themselves, it is permitted under PPERA. This remains the case even if the donor’s funds derived from a gift from an overseas individual”.[11]
The Electoral Commission also investigated the claim and has publicly stated that they have ‘looked into the donation’ and that there is ‘no evidence’ that the party has broken any rules and that they have ‘no plans to investigate further’.[12] The article linked does not contain any such quote from the Electoral Commission.
Personal life
editSheleg has been married twice: his first wife was English, and he married his second in 2014.[5][13]
References
edit- ^ "EHUD SHELEG info". Company Check. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
- ^ "Three businessmen who gave over £5m to Tories awarded honours by Theresa May". Left Foot Forward. 10 September 2019.
- ^ Preston, Alex (25 August 2018). "Meet the Israeli-born art mogul who gave the Tories £500,000 last year... and is set to become party treasurer". The Telegraph – via telegraph.co.uk.
- ^ "Tel Aviv-born Tory 'surprised' by knighthood".
- ^ a b "Ehud Sheleg, Tel Aviv-born Tory treasurer 'surprised' by knighthood from Theresa May". www.thejc.com. 16 September 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
- ^ "Search - The Electoral Commission". electoralcommission.org.uk. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
- ^ "Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor". iskb.co.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
- ^ "Revealed: The elite dining club behind £130m donations to the Tories". openDemocracy.
- ^ Cash, Justin. "Ex-Conservative Party treasurer Malik Karim on Truss' tenure: 'I'd be lying to you if I told you it wasn't a challenge'". fnlondon.com. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
- ^ "Conservative Party faces questions over donation, says Labour". BBC News. 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
- ^ "Hansard: National Security Bill".
- ^ "Labour calls for Tory probe over 2018 donation". ITV News. 2022-05-19. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
- ^ "Israeli-born donor slated to be new Tory treasurer". jewishnews.timesofisrael.com.