According to a report by The Guardian, Nigerian billionaire Kola Karim donated $65,000 (£50,000) to the Conservative Party in the first quarter of this year. The energy and construction tycoon joins a list of generous donors to the party, including Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour and Indonesian polyester mogul Amit Lohia.
During the first quarter, the Conservative Party received over £14 million in cash donations, primarily from a small group of wealthy individuals. It is noteworthy that the party hasn’t received such substantial non-election year donations since 2009.
However, this amount is somewhat inflated by a single £5 million gift from Mohamed Mansour, a former minister in the regime of Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.
The Conservatives have a history of successful fundraising, with Alistair McAlpine famously raising significant sums of cash in London during the 1980s.
However, the Brexit vote in 2016 led pro-European business elites to withdraw their support, making the Tories reliant on pro-leave donors and international businessmen.
The upcoming UK general election is anticipated to be the costliest in British history, with substantial amounts of money already being contributed to party funds.
Karim, 55, founded Shoreline Group, a Nigerian conglomerate interested in oil production, power generation, and construction.
In 2013, Karim, who primarily lives in London, partnered with Heritage Oil of the UK to create an indigenous Nigerian company seeking to reverse the fortunes of Shell’s neglected OML 30 oil lease.
The offspring of that collaboration, Shoreline Natural Resources, is now the third-largest indigenous oil producer in Nigeria.