Ehud Sheleg
{{Short description|British-Israeli businessman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| name = Ehud Sheleg
| birth_date = {{birth-date and age|November 1955}}
| birth_place = Tel Aviv, Israel
| nationality = Israeli
British
| nickname = Udi Sheleg
| native_name = אהוד שלג
| native_name_lang = he
}}
Sir Ehud Sheleg ({{Langx|he|אהוד שלג}}; born November 1955),{{cite web|url=http://companycheck.co.uk/director/901517757/MR-EHUD-SHELEG/summary|title=EHUD SHELEG info|website=Company Check|accessdate=25 July 2023}} nicknamed Udi Sheleg, is a British-Israeli businessman, art dealer and political figure.{{cite web|url=https://leftfootforward.org/2019/09/three-businessmen-who-gave-over-5m-to-tories-awarded-honours-by-theresa-may/|title=Three businessmen who gave over £5m to Tories awarded honours by Theresa May|date=10 September 2019|website=Left Foot Forward}}{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/meet-israeli-born-art-mogul-gave-tories-500000-last-year-set/|title=Meet the Israeli-born art mogul who gave the Tories £500,000 last year... and is set to become party treasurer|first=Alex|last=Preston|newspaper=The Telegraph |date=25 August 2018|via=telegraph.co.uk}}
Early life
Sheleg was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, but is quoted saying “I was brought up, albeit in Israel, with the sentiment of very strong ties to Britain. In the family of nations, this has to be my favourite one. Second to my homeland, of course".{{Cite web |title=Tel Aviv-born Tory 'surprised' by knighthood |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/ehud-sheleg-tel-aviv-born-tory-treasurer-surprised-by-knighthood-1.488499}} His father served with the Royal Air Force in the Second World War.{{cite web|url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/ehud-sheleg-tel-aviv-born-tory-treasurer-surprised-by-knighthood-1.488499 |title=Ehud Sheleg, Tel Aviv-born Tory treasurer 'surprised' by knighthood from Theresa May |publisher=www.thejc.com |date=16 September 2019 |accessdate=13 December 2019}}
Career
Sheleg is a director of the Halcyon Gallery in London. It is 50% controlled through a British Virgin Islands company by the Tov Settlement, the Sheleg family trust. He donated over £3.4 million to the Conservative Party, between 2017 and 2019.{{Cite web |title=Search - The Electoral Commission |url=http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/Search?currentPage=1&rows=30&query=ehud%20sheleg&sort=Value&order=desc&tab=1&open=filter&et=pp&et=tp&isIrishSourceYes=true&isIrishSourceNo=true&date=%20Received&from=2007-05-01&to=2022-10-01&prePoll=true&postPoll=false®ister=gb®ister=ni®ister=none&optCols=ReportingPeriodName |access-date=7 October 2022|website=electoralcommission.org.uk}}
In July 2019, he was appointed a Knight Bachelor by Theresa May in the 2019 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours and was named by Boris Johnson as the new Treasurer of the Conservative Party.{{cite web|url=http://www.iskb.co.uk/INFORMATION.htm|title=Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor|website=iskb.co.uk|accessdate=25 July 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/revealed-the-elite-dining-club-behind-130m-donations-to-the-tories/|title=Revealed: The elite dining club behind £130m+ donations to the Tories|website=openDemocracy}} In April 2021, he completed his tenure as Treasurer and was succeeded by Malik Karim.{{Cite web |last=Cash |first=Justin |title=Ex-Conservative Party treasurer Malik Karim on Truss' tenure: 'I'd be lying to you if I told you it wasn't a challenge' |url=https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/ex-conservative-party-treasurer-malik-karim-on-truss-tenure-id-be-lying-to-you-if-i-told-you-it-wasnt-a-challenge-20221118 |access-date=13 January 2023|website=fnlondon.com |language=en-GB}}
Investigations
In 2022, Labour Party Chair Anneliese Dodds used her parliamentary privilege in The House of Commons to announce that she had written to her Conservative counterpart Oliver Dowden to raise questions over Sheleg’s 2018 donation to the Conservative party. The source for her allegation was a New York Times story, based on the illegal disclosure of a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR). The article claimed Sheleg’s donation came from his Ukrainian father-in-law, Sergei Kopytov, as part of Russian money infiltrating the UK.{{Cite news |date=17 May 2022 |title=Conservative Party faces questions over donation, says Labour |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-61425441 |access-date=10 November 2022}}
However, this claim was investigated by the National Crime Agency with the NCA’s Director of Operations, Steve Rodhouse, stating “As you will be aware, provided a donation comes from a permissible source, and was the decision of the donor themselves, it is permitted under PPERA. This remains the case even if the donor’s funds derived from a gift from an overseas individual”.{{Cite web|url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2022-06-06/debates/12D4FE61-34CE-4483-BB06-591D9C14C14A/NationalSecurityBill|title=National Security Bill - Hansard - UK Parliament|website=hansard.parliament.uk}}
The Electoral Commission also investigated the claim and has publicly stated that they have ‘looked into the donation’ and that there is ‘no evidence’ that the party has broken any rules and that they have ‘no plans to investigate further’.{{Cite web |date=19 May 2022 |title=Labour calls for Tory probe over 2018 donation |url=https://www.itv.com/news/2022-05-19/labour-calls-for-tory-probe-over-2018-donation |access-date=10 November 2022 |website=ITV News |language=en}} The article linked does not contain any such quote from the Electoral Commission.
Personal life
Sheleg has been married twice: his first wife was English, and he married his second in 2014.{{cite web|url=https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/israeli-born-donor-slated-to-be-new-tory-treasurer/|title=Israeli-born donor slated to be new Tory treasurer|website=jewishnews.timesofisrael.com}}