The British Liberal Democrats face being forced to surrender their record gift of £2.4m (€3.1m) after a police investigation discovered the party’s biggest donor was a bogus businessman.

The Electoral Commission says it will reopen its probe into the donation by 5th Avenue Partners Ltd after its founder, the flamboyant conman Michael Brown, was convicted of stealing millions of pounds from former Manchester United chairman Martin Edwards.

Brown (42), whose private jet flew Charles Kennedy round Britain in the last general election, remains on the run after changing his name to jump bail.

He was found guilty in his absence of theft and perverting justice.

Brown had a private jet, a £49,000-a-year flat and had boasted he was the son of a lord, that he made regular visits to Buckingham Palace to see Prince Andrew and that he was an experienced bond dealer.

As his lies unravelled, Brown sent e-mails claiming he was dying of cancer. The con man, last known to live in Templewood Avenue, Hampstead, north London, will not be sentenced until he is caught. (©The Times, London)

- Dominic Kennedy and Jacqui Goddard, in Miami