SOMERTON and Frome MP David Warburton breached Parliamentary rules over a £150,000 loan from a Russian-born businessman, a probe has found.

The Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards, Kathryn Stone, found Mr Warburton failed to properly register the loan, received via an off-shore trust in the Seychelles in 2017.

The Conservative MP, currently suspended from the party over other allegations, also failed to declare the loan when lobbying in favour of Mr Joukovski in a letter to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the investigation concluded, as well as undertaking ‘paid advocacy’ on his behalf when writing a letter of reference to the Financial Conduct Authority.

The commissioner’s report said: “I established that the loan had been provided to Mr Warburton by Mr Roman Joukovski in August 2017 through an intermediary company, Castlebrook Associates Limited (Seychelles).

“I also established that the loan was for a personal matter and was not provided on a free or concessionary basis. My inquiry established that during the period that the loan was active (it was repaid in March 2022), Mr Warburton assisted Mr Joukovski in his dealings with the FCA.

“I determined that this assistance was provided in a personal capacity. I was also satisfied on the evidence that the loan had not influenced Mr Warburton’s words or actions as a Member.”

She said Mr Warburton told her he did not register the loan at the time because it was ‘entirely unconnected with either my role as an MP or any parliamentary activities’, and ‘in no way did (the loan) ever influence my words or actions as a Member. Nor could it have done’.

However, writing to Ms Stone after being informed of her conclusions, Mr Warburton wrote: “I apologise – again without reservation – for these breaches which, however inadvertent, do amount to material breaches of the code to which members must adhere.”

Mr Warburton, who was elected to Parliament in 2015, will not face any further punishment after he ‘acknowledged and apologised for his breach of the rules’.

In April, the Somerset MP was suspended by the Conservatives after the Sunday Times published separate allegations of sexual harassment and drug use.

He denied the claims, with a probe by the UK Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) continuing.