Nigel Farage faces barrage of outrage after Mirror exposes his offshore tax fund
Mr Farage opened a trust fund in the Isle of Man in a plan
to slash his tax bill, our investigation revealed
Evidence: Farage fronted by Daily Mirror reporter Nick
Sommerlad in Aberdeen
Newsline
Shamed UKIP
leader Nigel Farage faced outrage today after his offshore
tax wheeze was exposed by the Mirror.
Mr Farage opened a
trust fund in the Isle of Man in a plan to slash his tax bill, our
investigation revealed.
The explosive revelations have robbed the
rabble-rousing MEP of his “man of the people” image, MPs said today -
finally “bursting his bubble” after years of soaring popularity in the
polls.
His offshore fund was exposed just hours after the party
suffered a humiliating by-election wipeout in Scotland, piling fresh
misery on the UKIP leader.
Labour MP John Spellar said: “I know
Nigel Farage wants to appeal to disaffected Tories, but copying some of
the Tories’ biggest donors by setting up offshore trusts to avoid tax is
taking things too far.
“It’s typical of UKIP - they talk about
how much they love this country but don’t want to pay taxes here – it’s
just hypocritical.”
Fellow MP John Mann added: “This is a man who says he’s more English
than the rest of us, when in fact he has been taking money off the EU
while setting up an off-shore trust.
“His bubble has well and
truly burst. It’s absolute hypocrisy funded by the European taxpayer.”
On
Twitter Labour MP Ian Austin asked whether news of an “off-shore,
tax-avoiding trust dents city trader Phony Farage’s ‘man of the people’
pretence?”
Even David Cameron was dragged into the scandal -
fending off questions over his Cabinet Minister’s tax affairs.
Asked
whether anyone in the Government sitting around the Cabinet table held
trust funds offshore, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “There are
rules about interests and they should be followed.”
He added: “Mr
Farage’s tax affairs are a matter for him.”
Mr Farage told the
Mirror he did not benefit from the Farage Family Educational Trust 1654.
Companies
House documents indicated that the fund was a shareholder in Farage Ltd
- a financial firm owned by his brother Andrew in which the UKIP leader
also once had a stake - until 2011. Brother: Andrew Farage
John Alevroyiannis
The MEP insists he never received any dividends from the firm, which
had been paid solely to his brother, and had transferred his
shareholding in the company to the trust fund.
Farage Limited’s
accountant Spencer Watson told the Mirror that all £969,000 in dividends
were paid to Andrew.
Mr Farage said: “My financial advisers
recommended I did it, to have a trust really for inheritance purposes
and I took the advice and I set it up.
“It was a mistake. I was a
completely unsuitable person for it. I am not blaming them it was my
fault.
“It’s a vehicle that you chuck things in through your life
that you don’t need and you build up a trust fund for your children or
grandchildren.
“It was called an educational trust and could have
been used for grandchildren’s schools fees, things like that.
“It
was a mistake for three reasons. Firstly, I’m not rich enough to need
one and I am never going to be.
“Secondly, frankly, the world has
changed. Things that we thought were absolutely fair practice 10 years,
20 years ago, 30 years ago aren’t any more.
“Thirdly, it was a
mistake because it cost me money. I sent a cheque off to set it up.”
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Nigel Farage barricaded in a pub
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Timeline
1999 Nigel Farage elected to
European Parliament February 2003 Farage, his
brother Andrew Farage and a third director set up commodity trading firm
Farage Limited. August 2003 A document filed at
Companies House stated that Nigel Farage owned no shares in Farage
Limited and the Farage Family Educational Trust 1654 owned 33 shares. May
2004 Another document filed at Companies House stated that
Nigel Farage owned 33 shares in Farage Limited and the Farage Family
Educational Trust owned none. October 2004 Farage
was appointed company secretary of Farage Limited. February
2006 Farage resigned as director of Farage Limited but
remained as company secretary. September 2006 Nigel
Farage became leader of UKIP. November 2009 Nigel
Farage stood down as UKIP leader. November 2010 Farage
was re-elected leader of UKIP. May 2010 Farage
failed to win a seat at Westminster in the general election. February
2011 Nigel Farage resigned as company secretary of Farage
Limited. March 2011 HM Revenue & Customs
filed a petition at the High Court to wind up Farage Limited. July
2011 Farage Limited went into a “voluntary arrangement” to pay
off its debts by 2017.
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