Does anyone believe Nadhim Zahawi?

I’m an exception because I simply don’t know what happened, let alone how it happened, and am not going to speculate. I will await the result of the inquiry.

Very much doubt he prepares and submits his accounts all by himself. To me he has failed to declare something which is subject to taxation. Mighty big item if it warranted £3 million in tax. Don't believe any of it.

Grantanow

Oh, of course, now I understand the recent news from Ukraine. Johnson has been going to Ukraine to advise Zelenski about fighting bribery and corruption. I expect other Tory Ministers and MPs have been helping too in line with Sunak's intention that his government should be full of integrity. Perhaps Zahawi will be paying a visit in the near future. Zelenski could offer the PM's ethics adviser a job there if he happens to resign his UK post.

Nobody better to advise than a poacher turned gamekeeper!

Germanshepherdsmum

I’m an exception because I simply don’t know what happened, let alone how it happened, and am not going to speculate. I will await the result of the inquiry.

The inquiry is to establish whether Zahawi broke the ministerial code. He denied receiving an income from the offshore trust, denied knowing anything about the tax and threatened to use libel laws to shut down the journalist who was investigating him. The fact that he owed tax and has paid a fine is a matter of public record now.

It should reveal what happened and how it happened. That’s what I want to know.

Exactly- we know, as a fact, that he denied it, lied about it, and threatened those who wanted to expose him. No doubt whatsoever and all proven, on record.

Germanshepherdsmum

It should reveal what happened and how it happened. That’s what I want to know.

Not necessarily. It will concentrate on whether he broke the specific requirements of the ministerial code.

He has history ......

www.theguardian.com/global/2023/jan/23/nadhim-zahawi-taxes-explainer-former-chancellor

4allweknow

Very much doubt he prepares and submits his accounts all by himself. To me he has failed to declare something which is subject to taxation. Mighty big item if it warranted £3 million in tax. Don't believe any of it.

Accountants are usually honest, even if they are creative sometimes, my bet is that Zahawi “forgot” to tell him of the sale of £29 million in shares, an easy mistake to make.

It will have to investigate what happened and how it happened in order to decide whether he broke the code Growstuff.

Germanshepherdsmum

It will have to investigate what happened and how it happened in order to decide whether he broke the code Growstuff.

It depends on the remit. I'm sure we all know of inquiries which have been whitewashes, where people have got off scot-free, because the inquiry was not instructed to investigate specific aspects.

PS. What happened and when is already in the public domain. There isn't any dispute about it.

I made sure not to name you GSM, but you are very much on your own, that is very clear.

You have to give the accountant all the relevant information, so if he somehow ‘forgot to’, it won’t be the accountant’s fault.
I really don’t see how anyone’s ever going to know for certain, but IMO if he really was was careless enough to forget to provide the correct info, he should resign anyway.

When there’s a bad smell like this lingering over any MP, why it takes so for them to be ditched, defeats me.

I’m inclined to agree with GMS that we don’t know for sure at present. It does, however, look very fishy.

Katie59

4allweknow

Very much doubt he prepares and submits his accounts all by himself. To me he has failed to declare something which is subject to taxation. Mighty big item if it warranted £3 million in tax. Don't believe any of it.

Accountants are usually honest, even if they are creative sometimes, my bet is that Zahawi “forgot” to tell him of the sale of £29 million in shares, an easy mistake to make.

Not all accountants are honest. Many years ago a friend had a client who started a business making table lamps. He wanted to know how he could avoid paying tax. My friend wouldn't help with that (his business wasn't making any profits at the time) and he went elsewhere. His next adviser told hm to put money into a suitcase and take it to Jersey. This was back in the seventies when cash was available. You couldn't do it now since cash is disappearing quickly.

@25Avalon & GSM

Have neither of you read Dan Neidle's account of his investigation into the Balshore Trust and Whether or not Zahawi, as a founder of YougGov benefitted from it? The investigation which seems to have sparked Zahawi's sudden recall of having made £27million from the sale of the shares he claimed he didn't own and which HMRC have taxed at £3million as capital gains plus a penalty of £1.8 million for failing to take sufficient care to regularises his tax position?

Here it is:

www.taxpolicy.org.uk/2023/01/19/zahawi_story/

Neidle is an experienced and well respected tax lawyer.

I actually have my doubts that we will get a full and detailed report from Sunak's ethics advisor. I doubt even that we will get to see it if it it portrays Zahawi in a bad light. Sunak has had lessons in sitting on things from an expert...

MaizieD

I actually have my doubts that we will get a full and detailed report from Sunak's ethics advisor. I doubt even that we will get to see it if it it portrays Zahawi in a bad light. Sunak has had lessons in sitting on things from an expert...

I have my doubts too. The trouble for Sunak is that it makes him look negligent if he failed to ask the right questions. There's going to be an awful lot of "back covering" going on.

25Avalon

I’m inclined to agree with GMS that we don’t know for sure at present. It does, however, look very fishy.

But we do know that Zahawi tried to squirm out of paying the tax and intimidated the journalist/lawyer who was investigating him.

All the inquiry will do is investigate whether he broke the ministerial code and lied when he was made Chancellor and/or to Sunak. It will possibly investigate his intimidation or Neidle - or maybe not.

Witzend

You have to give the accountant all the relevant information, so if he somehow ‘forgot to’, it won’t be the accountant’s fault.
I really don’t see how anyone’s ever going to know for certain, but IMO if he really was was careless enough to forget to provide the correct info, he should resign anyway.

When there’s a bad smell like this lingering over any MP, why it takes so for them to be ditched, defeats me.

"Careless" has a very specific meaning for HMRC. It means that Zahawi didn't do something which he should have done.

And funny old Ken Dodd served a prison sentence for much less!

Lester Piggott and Boris Becker too - prison sentences for much less.

In 1987 Leslie Piggott, the chanpion jockey was jailed for 3 years for defrauding HMTC of £3 million

People are jailed for tax evasion, not tax avoidance. We don’t yet know enough, other than third hand, which applies here.

It does seem an unlikely mistake to make, but whether it is or not depends on how large his income is, and how competent his accountant.

I worked at a school that employed a very well-regarded firm of accountants that actually based the school's annual outgoings on the month of the previous year where there had been fewest bills to pay!

The staff-room resounded to our laughter when we heard that, as all and every teacher in the school worked out his or her budget by adding up the outgoings for the whole year and dividing the total by 12.

Thus we arrived at the amount to transfer to the account we paid our bills from. And we weren't all mathematicians, and certainly not accountants.

If a reputable firm of chartered accountants can make such an elementary mistake, then I suppose Zahwi's may have done something similar.