The letter from Sir Laurie Magnus to Rishi Sunak regarding Nadhim Zahawi's tax affairs.
gov.uk/government/pub…
gov.uk/government/pub…
Magnus found Zahawi broke the Ministerial Code in three respects:
- failing to disclose HMRC's investigation as part of his declaration of interests
- similarly failing to disclose the penalty imposed by HMRC
- failing to correct an untrue public statement
- failing to disclose HMRC's investigation as part of his declaration of interests
- similarly failing to disclose the penalty imposed by HMRC
- failing to correct an untrue public statement
Magnus also issues an important clarification regarding Zahawi's use of the term "carelessness". HMRC's terminology is "failing to exercise reasonable care". That's much worse than accidental carelessness. It is dereliction of duty.
It's roughly the equivalent of "driving without due care and attention", also known as "careless driving", which as (I hope) all UK drivers know, is a serious matter and can result in hefty fines and disqualification from driving.
Similarly, failing to exercise reasonable care in the conduct of one's tax affairs is a serious matter and can result in hefty fines and disqualification from high office - as Zahawi has now discovered.
And as for whoever it was on #PoliticsLive who insisted Zahawi was innocent and it was all the fault of the accountants he employed to manage his tax affairs - sorry but this is nonsense. Even if you employ someone to manage your tax affairs, you remain responsible for them.
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