the liberal democrats have been accused of accepting a potentially illegal donation in a new party funding scandal an undercover reporter, posing as an indian businessman, was told he could make a major gift to the party without revealing his identity, it was claimed treasury minister danny alexander was dragged into the row after he was recorded urging him to give more money, but nick clegg insisted he had done nothing more than poliutley thank a suporter for their help the journalist, who was posing as an indian businessman, was allegedly told to split his donations between family members to keep his identity a secret, and was pictured at a meeting with danny alexander  an undercover daily telegraph reporter was reportedly told that by spreading his donation among other family members, he would not exceed the £7,500 threshold requiring him to be named on the electoral commission register the reporter was offered private meetings with nick clegg and other senior figures he was allegedly told he could also back date cheques so he appeared to have given the money in different years and could avoid declaring it as a lump sum the fake donor was said to have been invited to a fundraising dinner with senior lib dem figures after he and his fictional 'cousin' handed the party £9,100 the donation was sought by ibrahim taguri, the party's former chief fundraiser he is running to be an mp in brent central he was pictured at a private meeting with chief secretary to the treasury danny alexander who allegedly encouraged him to provide further financial support and said his money would 'genuinely make a difference to the results of the election' the cabinet minister is said to have told him: ‘i just want you to know that i, personally, am very, very grateful for what you’re doing it genuinely will make a difference to the results of the election’ mr taguri was recorded telling him: ‘when you do this, the doors will open for you… we’re going to introduce you to the parties, they will be, very, very helpful once they know you are helpful’ but mr clegg told lbc radio that the recording showed 'danny being a polite guy, just saying thank you to someone who he has been told is supporting the party' the lib dem leader added: 'the idea that danny or any parliamentarian has done anything wrong is categorically untrue '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' lib dem leader nick clegg insisted mr alexander was just being 'a polite guy' and had done nothing wrong  the scandal will put the spotlight on how funding is sought by the lib dems and, potentially, other parties, and what access they may have been offering in return it comes weeks after ex foreign secretaries malcolm rifkind and jack straw were filmed accepting money to work for a bogus chinese firm the fake businessman is understood to have made contact with mr taguri, the party's spokesman on race equality he told the candidate he wanted to donate but keep his funding 'secret', the daily telegraph reported last night mr taguri apparently told him the money would 'open doors' explaining donors can give £1,500 to a local party office or £7,500 to the central party per year without having their name on the register the undercover reporter donated £1,450 to mr taguri, just under the limit, last october, it was claimed the fresh scandal comes just weeks after sir malcolm rifkind (left) and jack straw (right) were  caught offering to exploit their parliamentary connections while working for a bogus chinese firm  but it is alleged that the aspiring mp then told the businessman he could use 'cheeky' ways to donate larger sums by using 'a cousin' to give money for him or back dating cheques the reporter was said to have then arranged for a 'cousin' to donate a further £7,650 he was then invited to a lib dem fundraising dinner mr taguri was recorded telling him: 'when you do this, the doors will open for you… we're going to introduce you to the parties, they will be, very, very helpful once they know you are helpful' the following month it is alleged the fake businessman asked mr taguri for some contacts at local councils as he was interested in pursuing housing grants to help his property investments the lib dems said they were investigating the claims mr taguri denied any wrongdoing he said he had not cashed the cheque and would have declared it properly he added he thought the 'cousin' had given his own money and that he was 'publicly declaring all donations', even those he was not required to disclose a lib dem spokesman said: 'had the money come to us, which it as of yet hasn't, we would have declared the original source as is legally required and we would have no intention of doing anything otherwise' electoral commission rules say intermediaries 'must not be used as an attempt to evade the controls on permissibility and transparency'
danny alexander lib dems
undercover reporter was allegedly told to split donation among family . move would allow him to keep his identity hidden, breaching election code . met with danny alexander who urged him to donate more, it is claimed . was allegedly promised high level meetings with other senior lib dems 