Andrew Buncombe on a well-connected businessman

Andrew Buncombe on a well-connected businessman. When he can get them, David Davies apparently enjoys Partagas Culebras cigars. These rare delights consist of three single Havanas twisted together which have to be unwound before being smoked individually. They cost around pounds 10 and produce a mild, smooth taste.He likes decent red wine too; stuff such as Chateau Lynch Bages 1971, a Grand Cru from Pauillac in Bordeaux A bottle can cost around pounds 300. Again, if you can get one.He is slim, well-groomed, drives a dark blue Jaguar XJS sports car with personalised number plates (88 DD) enjoys the opera and has a town house in Kensington, London, an apartment on Hong Kong Island and an 18th century mansion in Ireland. Andrew Buncombe David Davies: 'few in Hong Kong knew of Tory role' The pounds 1.5m donations to the Tory Party by the controversial Ma family from Hong Kong has turned the spotlight on David Davies, party treasurer and the man said to have been the contact for the donation. LEGAL NOTE: - DO NOT repeat allegation that David Davies was the conduit for the Ma donation Jeremy Hanley agrees he was wrong.

"My boss told me not to ask too many questions."The months and millionsDonor Amount poundsApril 1996Hunting Plc 7,500Katsouris Fresh Foods Ltd 10,000Robert Fleming Holdings Ltd 75,000The Hon David Sieff 3,000Anon (ASA 12) 49,000FD Tughan 2,000JL Hoerner 2,000Metta Trading Ltd 9,000Berry Bros & Rudd Ltd 2,000May 1996Foreign and ColonialInvestment Trust Plc 12,500Overseas Courier Service(London) Ltd 100Sir Rocco Forte 50,000AS Wollenberg 3,000Greenfriar Investment Co Plc 5,000Anon (AWD) 2,000,000Prowting Plc 2,500June 1996Anon (ASA13) 500,000Anon (AAA) 125,000Salehurst Paper Plc 1,000Asprey Plc 4,000Anon (ASA 14) 2,000,000IIR Group 50,000Anon (ASA 15) 250,000Anon (ASA 16) 100,000July 1996The Rt Hon Lord Tugendhat 200Anon (ASA 17) 500,000Anon (ASA 18) 20,000J Lazzari 1,000Anon (ASA 19) 500,000St Anseln Development Co Ltd 500Anon (ASA 20) 750,000. Another employee said that she was convinced she had been followed after being accused of leaving the office with a piece of paper and returning without it."On one occasion, I expressed an interest in the filing cabinet where the real names of the donors are kept under lock and key," said another worker. The month ended well with a pounds 100,000 anonymous donation labelled ASA 16.July saw the arrival of another four anonymous donations for pounds 750,000 (ASA 20), two pounds 500,000 sums (ASA 17 and 19) and pounds 20,000 (ASA 18).Many of the 15-strong staff who worked in the Treasurer's Department in 1996 were squeezed out by the party in an atmosphere described by one of them as "poisonous".As she was being dismissed, one worker was told her telephone conversations had been taped. In total, pounds 2,073,000 was banked from seven donors.June started well with a pounds 500,000 anonymous donation (ASA 13) on the 4th and a pounds 125,000 anonymous donation (AAA) on the 5th. On 7 June, another pounds 2m donation was made and labelled "Anon ASA 14").Other contributors included Salehurst Paper Plc (pounds 1,000), Aspreys the royal jewellers (pounds 4,000), a repeat donation, this time of pounds 50,000 from the IIR Group and pounds 20,000 from four individuals.

In the 1997 New Year Honours list, one of its directors, Lawrence Banks, was made a CBE. In John Major's resignation list in August 1997, another director, former ambassador to the United States Sir Robin Renwick, was given a peerage.Another April donor was Metta Trading Ltd, which made a repeat donation of pounds 9,000. The Independent reported in July 1996 that Metta Trading, which used to boast a former Serbian deputy prime minister and a Russian transport minister on its board, had been making donations to the party.At the time, the party refused to confirm or deny that it accepted money from a company that had links with the Serbian government.Other April donors include Berry Brothers & Rudd Ltd, wine merchants. When CK Ma, the Hong Kong publisher whose heroin-smuggling father demanded the return of a pounds 1m donation earlier this week, attended a 1994 function at Downing Street with John Major, Berry's supplied the wine.May's entries began with pounds 12,500 from the Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust which last year made Kenneth Clarke, the former Chancellor, a part- time director.It continued with pounds 50,000 from Sir Rocco Forte, the former head of Trust House Forte, and pounds 5,000 from Greenfriar Investment Company before being boosted by the first of the pounds 2m anonymous donations, reference AWD.On the day it was received, 21 May 1996, Sir Brian Mawhinney, the then party chairman, publicly challenged Labour to clean up its funding. But MPs were disregarded by the fund-raisers at Smith Square."MPs would never be told," said one source.