Nick Clegg was accused of hypocrisy last night after it was alleged that a Liberal Democrat fundraiser had sought to bypass donation laws . Ibrahim Taguri told an undercover reporter posing as a wealthy Indian businessman that he would be able to channel money via family members and backdate cheques to avoid appearing on public registers . He was also said to have promised big donations could ‘ open doors ’ and introduced the fake donor to key figures including Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander . Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg , pictured , faces questions over his party 's attempts to bypass donation limits . Mr Alexander was recorded at a dinner thanking the supposed businessman for what he was doing , adding : ‘ I won ’ t intrude on the details , but genuinely it will make a difference. ’ All donations of £7,500 or more are supposed to be publically registered . Last night Sir Alastair Graham , former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life , said Mr Clegg ’ s high-minded rhetoric on sleaze was not matched by his party ’ s actions . ‘ The leader of the party has always taken a stand on high standards in politics , ’ he said . ‘ There ’ s a conflict between what he says , and what his party is doing . ‘ Any attempt to breach legal rules around party donations is a very serious matter . It is most unfortunate that the Lib Dems seem to be encouraging people to get round the legal provisions of party funding rules . You ’ d expect higher standards and better leadership. ’ Last night it emerged that the Lib Dems had agreed to hand back Mr Taguri ’ s Commons pass after accepting he should not have had one as it raised the prospect of him using the Parliamentary estate for fundraising purposes . Sir Alastair said : ‘ It is against the rules to carry out party political campaigning in the Commons , so allowing him to have a pass could be in breach of the rules . You ’ d class fundraising as party political campaigning. ’ Chief Secretary to the Treasury , Danny Alexander , pictured , thanked the undercover reporter who posed as a wealthy Indian businessman who was seeking to pump money into the Lib Dems for the election campaign . Lord Ashdown , the party ’ s election campaign leader , admitted that Mr Taguri – who yesterday quit as the Lib Dems ’ general election candidate in Brent Central and is now likely to stand as an independent – had ‘ serious questions to answer ’ . Mr Clegg told LBC Radio that Mr Alexander had done nothing wrong , save being polite to someone to whom he was introduced . The Deputy Prime Minister said the recording showed ‘ Danny being a polite guy , just saying thank you to someone who he has been told is supporting the party ’ . ‘ The idea that Danny or any parliamentarian has done anything wrong is categorically untrue , ’ he said . ‘ On the issue of Ibrahim Taguri , no cheque has been received by the Liberal Democrats , no cheque has been cashed . If we had received this cheque in question , of course it would have been scrutinised and checked. ’ Mr Taguri , who has also stepped down as the Lib Dem race equality champion , denied any wrongdoing and said he was ‘ confident that I will be exonerated of all the claims made against me ’ . He intends to fight the election as an independent but said he hoped to return to the party fold after clearing his name . The undercover reporter was apparently able to secure meetings with senior figures including Mr Alexander after giving several thousand pounds and promising far more . He was introduced to figures such as Lord Ashdown , taken to Mr Clegg ’ s office and attended a dinner for major party benefactors where he met Mr Alexander , the newspaper said . The fake donor is alleged to have been told by Mr Taguri that he could channel a donation via a ‘ cousin ’ after explaining that he wanted to remain ‘ discreet ’ about his financial support . He went on to hand over a cheque for more than the £7,500 threshold beyond which donations must be publicly registered with the Electoral Commission . Commission guidance , issued in 2007 in the wake of a scandal of ‘ proxy ’ donations to Labour , says giving money via a third party ‘ must not be used as an attempt to evade the controls on permissibility and transparency ’ . Backdating a cheque could have allowed the donor to split the gift into smaller amounts of less than £7,500 – thus allowing him to evade declaring his name . A spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission said : ‘ We are aware of what ’ s been reported and are establishing the facts before determining what further steps to take . ’
Senior Lib Dem were filmed talking about bypassing party finance laws . An undercover journalist posed as a wealthy Indian businessman . The reporter was allegedly told that big donations could 'open doors '