ARE YOU A RANGERS FAN?
What Celtic owner asked BBC reporter who was probing the Irish tycoon’s tax affairs ..
FURIOUS Celtic tycoon Dermot Desmond wrote to an investigator probing his tax affairs, asking: “Are you a Rangers supporter?” The extraordinary dispatch from Desmond to BBC journalist Mark Daly came a day after the Irish billionaire was grilled about tax avoidance schemes. Desmond had been approached at Parkhead by Daly
and a camera crew before Celtic played Bayern Munich last week and asked to justify his private jet company’s tax arrangements.
The next day, Desmond wrote to Daly asking: “Are you a Rangers supporter? You ambushed me last night on the way to a Celtic game in the company of my family and friends.” Desmond went on to deny setting up a shell company in the Isle of Man for tax avoidance.
He added: “I have not previously responded to your ill-informed questions.
“However, as I informed you last night, during my period of majority ownership, ExecuJet was tax and regulatory compliant in all jurisdictions it operated in, nor was it under any investigation.
“There are good operational reasons for having a presence in the Isle of Man and many international companies do so.”
Asked why the Isle of Man company was created if not for the purposes of avoiding tax, Desmond replied: “That would be giving away confidential information about a company that I no longer own.”