Questions about the tax dealings of Nadhim Zahawi continue to swirl around Westminster following reports the former chancellor agreed to pay a seven-figure settlement to HMRC.
An article in The Sun on Sunday claimed a payment worth millions of pounds was made by the Conservative Party chairman to end a dispute with the tax office “after scrutiny of his family’s financial affairs”.
The paper alleged there were questions over his use of an offshore company – a Gibraltar-registered family trust called Balshore Investments – to hold shares in the polling firm YouGov.
But Mr Zahawi has previously denied he was a beneficiary of Balshore Investments.
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Sky News has made a number of approaches to the Tory MP and his team to clarify the situation around the payment to HMRC, but he has still not revealed if the report is accurate.
Instead, a spokesperson for the Tory MP said: “Mr Zahawi’s tax affairs were and are fully up to date and are paid in the UK.
“He has always said that he will answer any questions from HMRC as he always has done.”
HMRC will not comment on individual cases.
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Before entering politics, Mr Zahawi co-founded YouGov and is thought to have a net worth of around £100m.
Questions over his tax affairs have been raised before – namely ahead of his short tenure as chancellor in the closing days of Boris Johnson’s premiership.
The Observer claimed civil servants in the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team alerted the prime minister to an HMRC “flag” over Mr Zahawi before his appointment, but Mr Johnson went ahead “despite the possible concerns over his tax affairs”.
The minister claimed he was “clearly being smeared” in his campaign to become Conservative Party leader, telling Sky News he had “always” paid his taxes and had “declared” them in the UK.
