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British police on Friday dropped an investigation into pro-Brexit campaign group Leave.EU over its spending during the 2016 referendum campaign despite finding there were technical breaches of electoral law.
“It is now appropriate to take no further action,” Commander Alex Murray of the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
Murray said the nature of the breaches, the criminal standard of proof required in court and the actions taken by Leave.EU since the referendum justified the decision.
Leave.EU, headed up by businessman Arron Banks, said it was demanding a public inquiry into the actions of the Electoral Commission, which had referred the case to the police.
“The Electoral Commission have serious questions to answer about political bias,” Banks said in a statement.
Leave.EU and an insurance company headed by Banks were fined a total of £120,000 (135,000 euros, $149,000) this year for using the personal data of insurance clients to send them targeted political ads during the referendum campaign.
Vote Leave was the official pro-Brexit campaign, while Leave.EU was the biggest unofficial lobby group.
Friday’s police statement said a separate investigation into the spending returns of Vote Leave and BeLeave, another pro-Brexit campaign group, was still ongoing.