Zarah Sultana’s unauthorised launch of a Your Party membership portal should be referred to the police, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has advised. Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project (PJP), which referred Your Party to the information watchdog last September over a potential data breach, has been advised by the ICO that it should consider referring the incident to the police in order to determine whether “serious criminal activity” occurred, according to people familiar with the advice.
Sultana launched a membership portal in September, after an email was sent to the 800,000 people on Your Party’s mailing list inviting them to become paying members for £55. Corbyn said the website had been set up without approval and was a “false membership system” that collected money and data without authorisation from Your Party’s data controller, the PJP. The PJP subsequently referred the matter to the ICO.
The New Statesman can exclusively reveal that following the complaint, the ICO advised the PJP to consider going to the police and Action Fraud, a fraud reporting service. The ICO said it would not continue with its own formal investigation at this time, but that the police and Action Fraud could determine whether the acquiring and use of the data involved in the membership portal launch amounted to criminal activity. A police investigation would take primacy over an ICO investigation, the advice added.
A spokesperson for the ICO said: “After reviewing the information provided, we have assessed that formal ICO involvement is not required at this time”. Your Party has not referred itself to the police and no investigation is underway, people familiar with the matter said. A source said that the ICO’s advice regarding the police “should not be interpreted as a determination or conclusion in any direction.” Your Party declined to comment.
After the New Statesman contacted Sultana for comment, she released a statement on X stating: “I have been informed that the ICO has dropped the case around the Your Party membership portal.”
“I always anticipated that this inquiry would conclude with no further action and I am pleased that everyone can now draw a line under the matter.” She added that she “look[s] forward to continue working with Jeremy” Corbyn.
A source close to Sultana said: “The suggestion this might be a police matter is risible and the work of those who wish to see Your Party defeated.”
[Further reading: Starmer has failed to stand up for his own principles]
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