Exclusive: Ashcroft's bank lent millions to disgraced premier

Companies linked to Lord Ashcroft, the billionaire deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, helped finance the lavish lifestyle of the disgraced prime minister of Turks and Caicos islands, an Independent investigation has found.

Lord Ashcroft's British Caribbean Bank (BCB), which is run locally by his son Andrew, advanced a $5m (£3m) loan to Michael Misick, and a construction company associated with the peer built and funded a beachfront mansion for the premier, who was ousted from power in the British overseas territory in a corruption scandal this year.

Lord Ashcroft, who has given the Conservative Party more than £10m and is playing a pivotal role in its general election campaign, has long been subject to intense scrutiny over his business dealings in nearby Belize, but the extent of his interests in the Turks and Caicos has attracted much less comment. His bank extended loans of more than a third of a billion dollars to finance a development boom on the islands under Mr Misick's rule.