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Kate Plummer
Jan 16, 2023
'Step back a second': Nadhim Zahawi and Adil Ray clash over Johnson …
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Nadhim Zahawi is dominating social media discourse again after a tax row.
According to sources reportedly speaking to the Sun on Sunday, the former chancellor has agreed to pay several million pounds in tax to the authorities after a dispute over his use of an offshore company to hold shares in the polling firm YouGov.
The more than £20m shares were held through Balshore Investments, a Gibraltar-registered family trust, from which he has previously denied benefiting, and sold by 2018 to an unknown recipient.
Tax Policy Associates, a thinktank, has estimated that Balshore’s sale of YouGov shares should have incurred capital gains tax of about £3.7m.
Asked whether Zahawi was paying millions to HM Revenue and Customs, his spokesperson told the publication: “As he has previously stated, Mr Zahawi’s taxes are properly declared and paid in the UK. He is proud to have built a British business that has become successful around the world.”
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A spokesperson for Zahawi said last summer that the senior Conservative was not aware of any investigation by HMRC.
People reacted to the news on Twitter, and they weren't pleased:
\u201cIncredible work by @DanNeidle but in what sensible would would Zahawi have become Chancellor of the Exchequer knowing this was true? And in what sensible world can he remain as a Minister or, indeed, an MP? \nhttps://t.co/QjcKWz9xBN\u201d— Ian Moss (@Ian Moss) 1673779593
\u201cFrom 'Warm Horse' to 'Questionable tax returns!'\nHow the actual Fcuk is Nadhim Zahawi still a Minister, let alone even in Public Office???? #GetToriesDone\u201d— Steve Bray on Mastodon @SNB19692@Mastodon.Social (@Steve Bray on Mastodon @SNB19692@Mastodon.Social) 1673788731
\u201cNadhim Zahawi has generously decided to pay the tax he tried to avoid, just like when he chose to repay the \u00a36,000 he 'accidentally' claimed for heating his stables. \nWhat a man of honour! \nhttps://t.co/gnEf10sSQk\u201d— Parody Rishi Sunak (@Parody Rishi Sunak) 1673798300
\u201cIf true, this is another nail in the coffin of the honesty, integrity and accountability promised by Rishi Sunak. This raises serious questions for both Nadhim Zahawi and the PM: \ud83e\uddf5\n\nhttps://t.co/ymNohRuZSf\u201d— Anneliese Dodds \ud83d\udc99 (@Anneliese Dodds \ud83d\udc99) 1673802433
\u201cI thought I had seen everything\u2026. https://t.co/8RxeKKutgT\u201d— Ian Lucas (@Ian Lucas) 1673815448
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