Saturday, January 21, 2023
Tory Ministers under siege
The Independent reports that, fresh from his own law-breaking stint in the back of a moving vehicle, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is facing a call to launch an inquiry into whether Nadhim Zahawi broke the ministerial code, after the Tory Party Chair reportedly paid millions to settle a dispute with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) over his tax.
The paper says that the prime minister has defended the under-pressure Tory chair, claiming that Mr Zahawi has addressed the matter in full after claims that he stumped up a “seven-figure” sum to settle the dispute, but the opposition believe that a series of questions remain unanswered by the cabinet minister:
Labour chair Anneliese Dodds posed the questions to the PM – including whether there is a “VIP fast lane” for government ministers to settle tax disputes with HMRC.
Ms Dodds questioned what due diligence was carried out on Mr Zahawi before his appointment as Conservative chair, asking whether a “red flag” was raised by the Cabinet Office over his tax before his appointment as chancellor in the summer.
She also pressed the PM to explain whether Mr Zahawi had provided him with any details about how much he has paid to HMRC, and asked when the prime minister had become aware of HMRC’s interest in the minister’s tax affairs.
“If answers to these questions have not been provided, can you confirm that a full cabinet inquiry will take place to determine if Mr Zahawi has misled the British public and broken the ministerial code? And if that inquiry finds that he did, will you remove him from post immediately?” she wrote.
“It is dependent on all of us in public life to uphold the highest standards of probity. We have a duty to restore that trust and to ensure that the British public can have confidence in those who create their laws,” Ms Dodds added in the letter to the PM.
The Independent adds that questions have swirled around Mr Zahawi since The Sun on Sunday reported that he had settled a tax dispute relating to an offshore company registered in Gibraltar to hold shares in the YouGov polling company he co-founded:
The Independent reported in July that HMRC officials were examining the tax affairs of the senior Tory figure after an inquiry was launched by the National Crime Agency in 2020.
YouGov’s 2009 annual report showed a more than 10 per cent shareholding by the Gibraltar-registered Balshore Investments Ltd. The report described the company as the “family trust of Nadhim Zahawi”, then an executive director of the polling firm.
But a spokesperson for Mr Zahawi said: “Neither he nor his direct family are beneficiaries of Balshore Investments or any trust associated with it. Mr Zahawi has always said that he will answer any questions from HMRC, which he has always done.”
The spokesperson said the Tory chair’s taxes are “properly declared” and paid in the UK, and that he “has never had to instruct any lawyers to deal with HMRC on his behalf”.
But when questions about Mr Zahawi’s tax affairs were first raised in the summer, following The Independent’s report, a spokesperson for Mr Zahawi said his father Hareth Zahawi owned Balshore Investments.
As Zahawi is a public figure with a hugely influential role in government the questions being posed about him need to be answered.
The paper says that the prime minister has defended the under-pressure Tory chair, claiming that Mr Zahawi has addressed the matter in full after claims that he stumped up a “seven-figure” sum to settle the dispute, but the opposition believe that a series of questions remain unanswered by the cabinet minister:
Labour chair Anneliese Dodds posed the questions to the PM – including whether there is a “VIP fast lane” for government ministers to settle tax disputes with HMRC.
Ms Dodds questioned what due diligence was carried out on Mr Zahawi before his appointment as Conservative chair, asking whether a “red flag” was raised by the Cabinet Office over his tax before his appointment as chancellor in the summer.
She also pressed the PM to explain whether Mr Zahawi had provided him with any details about how much he has paid to HMRC, and asked when the prime minister had become aware of HMRC’s interest in the minister’s tax affairs.
“If answers to these questions have not been provided, can you confirm that a full cabinet inquiry will take place to determine if Mr Zahawi has misled the British public and broken the ministerial code? And if that inquiry finds that he did, will you remove him from post immediately?” she wrote.
“It is dependent on all of us in public life to uphold the highest standards of probity. We have a duty to restore that trust and to ensure that the British public can have confidence in those who create their laws,” Ms Dodds added in the letter to the PM.
The Independent adds that questions have swirled around Mr Zahawi since The Sun on Sunday reported that he had settled a tax dispute relating to an offshore company registered in Gibraltar to hold shares in the YouGov polling company he co-founded:
The Independent reported in July that HMRC officials were examining the tax affairs of the senior Tory figure after an inquiry was launched by the National Crime Agency in 2020.
YouGov’s 2009 annual report showed a more than 10 per cent shareholding by the Gibraltar-registered Balshore Investments Ltd. The report described the company as the “family trust of Nadhim Zahawi”, then an executive director of the polling firm.
But a spokesperson for Mr Zahawi said: “Neither he nor his direct family are beneficiaries of Balshore Investments or any trust associated with it. Mr Zahawi has always said that he will answer any questions from HMRC, which he has always done.”
The spokesperson said the Tory chair’s taxes are “properly declared” and paid in the UK, and that he “has never had to instruct any lawyers to deal with HMRC on his behalf”.
But when questions about Mr Zahawi’s tax affairs were first raised in the summer, following The Independent’s report, a spokesperson for Mr Zahawi said his father Hareth Zahawi owned Balshore Investments.
As Zahawi is a public figure with a hugely influential role in government the questions being posed about him need to be answered.
