LIB DEM DONOR ARRESTED IN MAJORCA FACES 53 CHARGES IN BRITAIN

By Humphrey Carter THE BBC, Sky News and Scottish television were quick to pick up on the arrest of the Lib Dem's multi-millionaire backer yesterday after the Bulletin exclusively broke the story in yesterday's edition. While Brown told a High Court judge in Madrid that he was prepared to return to Britain and does not intend to fight extradition, the newspapers, in particular The Times , with which the Bulletin has worked closely on the Brown story, and The Guardian were updating their digital editions and the story of Brown's arrest in Majorca will be one of today's top stories. The Lib Dems were quick to try and distance themselves from their biggest backer but the fact is that Michael Brown, who gave the party £2.4 million to help fight the last election, is facing 53 charges of forgery, perjury, perverting the course of justice, dishonesty and obtaining a passport by deception. Brown, who was arrested in compliance with a European arrest warrant issued by a London court, here on the island on Wednesday, his 40th birthday and spent Thursday in Palma prison. Brown's arrest is the result of a private criminal action launched in January by one of the world's largest banks in London. Now that he has been arrested and has agreed to co-operate, he is expected to be returned to Britain within around the next 10 days. The fast track extradition agreement Britain and Spain has can take a maximum of 40 days. Michael Brown is one of Scotland's wealthiest men with a fortune of around £10 million and drives a Porsche Cayanne and a Jaguar sports car in Majorca. But it is undertsood that he has a 1.6 million euros mortgage on his luxury home on the outskirts of Esporlas. This is not the first time Brown has been investigated. Apart from last year's investigation by the Electoral Commission is his record-breaking donation to the Lib Dems, he is also understood to have been the focus of an investigation when he was working in the United States some years ago. Brown will be held in the top security prison at Valdemora near Madrid until he is extradited to the United Kingdom.