
As if Lesotho was not deep enough in troubles of its own, we were shocked to find that Arron Banks, the self-styled Bad-Boy of Brexit, saw the low-ethics individuals in the then exiled Lesotho government, as ripe for the picking. The payments made to the government officials were often made in cash – the proverbial brown envelope and also into the private (South African) bank accounts of the officials and their family members.
In a further apparently flagrant breach of South African law, Mr Arron Banks appears to have seen fit to smuggle an uncut diamond out of South Africa, in flagrant breach of both the Diamond Act and the customs regulations. Forensics for Justice have been reliably informed that the stone in question was a valuable seven carat stone, worth USD40,000-00.
In a BBC interview conducted in late July 2018, Mr Banks admitted making the cash payments to Lesotho government ministers. South Africa has enough issues with corruption, without the need to import Bad-Boys from the UK to engage in such acts.
Whilst the flagrant misrepresentations Mr Banks has admitted to making to Brexit voters are an internal matter for the UK, his conduct in Africa is not. We therefore call on the South African and UK Governments to send out the strongest possible signal that this type of conduct will not be tolerated, by making an example of Mr Banks and his accomplices.