DAVID Coburn, Scotland's new Ukip MEP, was described as a businessman and based in Edinburgh during the Euro election campaign.
Yet there are no current directorships listed at Companies House under his name, and when the results of the European Parliament elections were formally declared in Edinburgh yesterday his permanent address was given as Kensington in London.
The openly gay 55-year-old was unveiled as Ukip's lead candidate in Scotland in February after a civil war within Ukip Scotland.
Former Scots leader Lord Monckton and Scottish party chairman Mike Scott-Hayward were ousted late last year, following alleged disagreements with Nigel Farage, and a new chairman, Arthur Misty Thackeray, installed.
Mr Coburn arrived as the public face of Ukip in Scotland after running the party's London region.
He stood in Old Bexley and Sidcup in the 2010 Westminster election, coming fifth, behind the BNP, and achieving just 3.4 per cent of the vote - worse than Ukip's previous performance in the constituency.
Mr Coburn was described on a Ukip election leaflet as an "international freight forwarding business owner".
A previous business he ran, the Lexicon School of English in Kensington, was dissolved in 1993 after failing to file accounts. It emerged during the election campaign that some students were left out of pocket by the collapse.
Explaining his decision to close the school, he said: "I have had a lot of businesses. Some better than others."
Two of Coburn's other companies, Heliogabalus and D&C Trading, were dissolved in 2010 and 2012 respectively.
He resigned as a director of the United Kingdom Independence Party Limited on December 2, 2013, having been appointed on February 6, 2012.
His occupation on that form was listed as antique dealer.
He is understood to have been living in a rented property in Edinburgh during the campaign.
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