The fugitive multimillionaire and Liberal Democrat donor Michael Brown is due to be handed over to British officials after his arrest in the Dominican Republic.

Brown fled the UK to the Caribbean after being convicted of fraud at Southwark crown court in 2008 and was sentenced in his absence to seven years in jail.

Authorities in the Dominican Republic on Saturday revealed they were to extradite the fugitive back to Britain after he was detained in the tourist town of Punta Cana in January.

Police said Brown, who donated about £2.4m to the Lib Dems before the 2005 general election ? the party's largest donation to date ? had been flown to Spain where he was due to be turned over to the British authorities.

He had been living on the Caribbean island under the name of Darren Nally, officials added.

An international manhunt was launched when Brown went on the run after stealing nearly £8m from the former chairman of Manchester United.

He posed as a successful bond dealer and claimed connections with royalty to steal the money from Martin Edwards.

He secretly used investors' money to fund the donation to the Lib Dems and lived an "extravagant" lifestyle.

Dominican police said Brown had also been charged with defrauding people in Punta Cana, but the alleged victims dropped their complaints so he could be extradited.

An Electoral Commission inquiry in 2009 found the Lib Dems had accepted Brown's donation in good faith and cleared the party of all wrongdoing.