Former Tory chairman quits tech firm over ‘secret’ bonus

FORMER Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps resigned from a technology company yesterday following claims he failed to declare a ‘secret pay deal’.

Mr Shapps, who denies any wrongdoing, quit from the management board of tech firm OpenBrix after it was reported that a ‘secret’ bonus scheme could see him receive a payment of up to £700,000 for his work. In Parliament’s register of MPs’ interests, Mr Shapps’s involvement with the firm is recorded as ‘unpaid’.

But he had been in line for a major bonus after it floats later this year, the Financial Times claimed.

The firm aims to bring the ‘blockchain’ technology behind the Bitcoin phenomenon to the property market.

Later this year it will make what is known as an ‘initial coin offering’ – when it effectively sells shares on the market.

Mr Shapps was allegedly due to share in a bonus pool with three other board members after the sale. It said his bonus would be worth anywhere between £170,000 and £700,000.

But last night Mr Shapps said his entry in the MPs’ register was entirely above board and had been made in consultation with Commons staff. Friends said he had been advised he did not need to record the bonus until he received it.

In a statement he said last night: ‘I registered my interest according to the spirit and letter of the rules.’

Mr Shapps will be waiving any bonus from OpenBrix and has stood down as co-chairman of the all-party Parliamentary group on blockchain.