General Election 2015: Tories forced to return £90,000 in donations from convicted fraudster and his wife

The Conservative Party has been forced to return election donations totalling £90,000 after an investigation by The Independent revealed the party accepted money from a convicted tax fraudster and his wife.

Earlier this month, The Independent revealed the Tories took more than £50,000 in donations from Beatrice Tollman, the founder of the luxury hotel chain Red Carnation Group, and her husband, Stanley Tollman.

The couple donated £40,000 to the party earlier this month to boost the Conservative’s election coffers. Mrs Tollman has given an additional £30,000 to the Conservatives since 2011.

The party decided to hand back the money after The Independent revealed that Mrs Tollman, founder of the luxury hotel chain Red Carnation Group, had herself also been charged with conspiracy to evade millions of dollars’ worth of tax in the US, charges that were dismissed by a judge in 2008.

Now, further details of donations made during the election campaign have shown the Tories have accepted a further £20,000 donation from Ms Tollman, whose husband pleaded guilty to tax evasion in the United States in 2008.

The charges against Mrs Tollman were dropped on the same day as Mr Tollman pleaded guilty by agreement to a single count of tax evasion for which he was sentenced to one day’s unsupervised probation in London.

At the same time he agreed to pay more than $105 million to the US authorities in back taxes and penalties.

The fact that the Conservatives have been forced to return more than £90,000 to the couple is embarrassing for David Cameron, who has made cracking down on tax evasion and avoidance a key part of its election campaign and has pledged to raise £5 billion by tackling those who do not pay their fair share in tax.

The American authorities had spent five years unsuccessfully attempting to extradite Mrs Tollman from the UK over allegations that she and her husband had millions of dollars in taxable income in the Channel Islands.

The couple were close friends of Margaret Thatcher and were guests of the Reagans at the White House.

Mr Tollman said he only agreed to plead guilty in order to ensure the “future peace and security of the family”.

The couple’s son, Brett Tollman, chief executive of Travel Corporation, pleaded guilty to tax evasion in 2003 and was sentenced to more than two years in prison, as well as a $3.5 million penalty.

A spokesman for Mr and Mrs Tollman said: “In so far as Mrs Tollman is concerned, you will see she is of good character and was acquitted of all charges.”

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Responding to Mr Tollman’s guilty plea, a spokesman said: “Stanley Tollman admitted to having failed to report on his US tax return two bank accounts situated outside the US. It was that omission for which he was sentenced to one day's unsupervised probation.

“The reality is that the financial settlement was the only means through which his family were going to be able to get on and lead their lives without being coerced by the Americans.”

The Labour party said news of the latest donations to be returned to the Tollmans raised serious questions for the Conservative party to answer.

Jon Ashworth, Labour’s general election campaign deputy, said: “Questions now need to be asked as to why the Conservatives continue to accept money from someone associated with large scale fraud, when they have previously returned donations from these sources. It’s yet another embarrassment from a desperate campaign that won’t stand up for working people.

"Whether through giving millionaires a tax cut, defending tax avoidance, or cutting tax credits for thousands of hard working families, the Tories always stand up for a privileged few.”