AN MP embroiled in a cocaine and sex scandal lobbied for his Russian banker friend who secretly lent him £150,000, it has been revealed.
Conservative David Warburton, 56, wrote a character reference using official parliamentary notepaper urging the Financial Conduct Authority to reconsider its assessment of Roman Joukovski.
He called the Russian businessman extremely capable, honest and straightforward in last March’s letter, adding that he trusted and had a positive view of him.
But the politician failed to declare his financial relationship with the Russian businessman, who lent him £150,000 in 2017, the Sunday Times reported. The loan from an offshore trust in Seychelles had eight per cent interest.
Joukovski was trying to overturn the FCA’s stance after it refused to certify him as a fit and proper person in 2014 and found one of his firms gave misleading information after an investigation launched in 2019.
It comes after married dad-of-two Warburton was accused of sexual harrassment and of taking cocaine.
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He allegedly snorted “line after line” before stripping naked and groping a woman’s breasts in her flat.
The MP for Somerset and Frome sent the woman a message the next morning asking if she was proud an MP had slept in her home, adding: “Promise I won’t remove all my clothes again.”
The younger woman said she had warned Warburton repeatedly before and during his visit that she did not want to have sex with him.
But despite her protests, she claims Warburton ground his body against hers and groped her breasts as he climbed into her bed.
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A damning picture also shows him next to four lines of white powder on a baking tray. He has denied all wrongdoing.
He was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for severe shock after the allegations emerged last week.
Wife-of-20-years Harriet is understood to be fully supporting him. Her brother Jonathan said: “They’ve always been a very happy couple for as long as I’ve known them.”
He added his sister is “obviously affected herself” and “finding it hard”.
