One of the Tory party’s biggest donors has been ordered to pay back millions of pounds in tax after a judge ruled against an offshore scheme he had used to slash his bills.
The judge said a Guernsey-based trust set up by hedge fund boss George Robinson, one of the City’s highest-paid financiers, was ‘cosmetic’ and told him and three colleagues to pay the taxman £13 million.
Mr Robinson, who is facing a personal bill of more than £2 million, used an arrangement favoured by top footballers and City banks such as Goldman Sachs after being advised it could help him avoid tax.
But Revenue & Customs challenged the offshore arrangements, and now a tax tribunal has ruled in its favour. This will embarrass David Cameron, who has called aggressive tax-dodging ‘morally wrong’.
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Recent Comments
Chloe
This tragedy raises serious questions regarding the academic rigor at Cambridge University and Liverpool John Moores University. Scrutiny regarding this should ...
BLAC Lib Dems
Just to clarify, our letter **does not state or imply that Professor Arday was guilty of plagiarism**\. We explicitly refer to **“allegations of academic m...
Jana
@David Raw “ I’m sorry, Jana, but you’re asking me to take the anecdotal evidence ‘of a friend’ over the published regulation standards and practices...- Jana
“ At its heart is an ugly assumption: Black people who attain prominent positions must somehow have got there because standards were lowered, because of prefe... 
Tristan Ward
I too have been looking for substance in these allegations of plagerism and so far they seem unsubstantiated. This is a grim episode. It’s worth saying ...
3 Comments
I wonder if Cameron will ‘name’ him?
I don’t know why I said ‘wonder’ when I already know the answer!
Further proof that the aggressive approach being taken by the Coalition towards some of the more ingenious tax avoidance schemes is working. Danny Alexander is to be congratulated
These and other related scandals tarnish politics, and all politicians, by association.
We should reform party funding rules forcing political parties to adopt a low cost decentralised existence and to rely on their mass membership, rather than wealthy individuals, companies, charities or unions.
As with football, big money in politics relegates the fans to the sidelines. Smaller, more passionate, organisations please!