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| UKIP MEP Amjad Bashir suspended over 'serious' financial issues | UKIP MEP Amjad Bashir suspended over 'serious' financial issues |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| A UKIP MEP who was poised to defect to the Conservatives has been suspended over financial and employment concerns. | A UKIP MEP who was poised to defect to the Conservatives has been suspended over financial and employment concerns. |
| Party leader Nigel Farage said there were "extremely serious" questions which Amjad Bashir had not answered. | Party leader Nigel Farage said there were "extremely serious" questions which Amjad Bashir had not answered. |
| The allegations against him include claims of interference with the candidate selection process, according to the party. | The allegations against him include claims of interference with the candidate selection process, according to the party. |
| Mr Bashir rejected the claims as "absurd and made-up allegations". | Mr Bashir rejected the claims as "absurd and made-up allegations". |
| A UKIP spokesman said evidence obtained by the party in the course of its own investigations had been forwarded to the police. | A UKIP spokesman said evidence obtained by the party in the course of its own investigations had been forwarded to the police. |
| Mr Bashir, UKIP's communities spokesman and MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, had been expected to announce his defection to the Conservative Party on Saturday evening. | |
| 'Not achievable' | |
| In an interview with the BBC carried out before the news of his suspension, he said controlled immigration and an EU referendum were "not achievable with UKIP". | |
| Mr Bashir told the BBC's Jim Reed: "I think it is right that I make good the promises I made to my electorate and join a party that is able to deliver those promises. | |
| "The only party that is able to and is offering the referendum is the Conservative Party and they have the ability to deliver that." | |
| Mr Bashir, a former restaurateur who has also acted as UKIP's small businesses spokesman, revealed that he would not be standing down in order to prompt a by-election. | |
| Defending that decision, he said: "They voted for the policies that UKIP have, and those policies I can best deliver from the Conservative Party." | |
| He described UKIP's campaigning against the Conservatives as "self-centred" since it would, he claimed, "cause a significant dent in the Conservative vote... and let in Labour, and Labour doesn't propose a referendum nor the immigration controls that we want". | |
| 'Zero tolerance' | |
| He has in the past defended the party against accusations of racism and insisted race and religion had nothing to do with his decision to leave UKIP. | |
| Regarding Mr Bashir's suspension, a UKIP spokesman said: "The UK Independence Party has a zero-tolerance policy and takes the matters at hand extremely seriously. | |
| "The allegations against Mr Bashir are of a grave nature and we will be forwarding our evidence obtained so far to the police." | "The allegations against Mr Bashir are of a grave nature and we will be forwarding our evidence obtained so far to the police." |
| In a statement on its website, UKIP disclosed one of the reasons Mr Bashir has been suspended was his "continued affiliation" with Mujeeb Bhutto, who was involved in a Pakistani kidnapping gang. | In a statement on its website, UKIP disclosed one of the reasons Mr Bashir has been suspended was his "continued affiliation" with Mujeeb Bhutto, who was involved in a Pakistani kidnapping gang. |