Firm founded by Jeremy Hunt broke the law

A FIRM co-founded by Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, broke company law by failing to file documents with Companies House for three years, it has emerged.

Hotcourses, majority owned by Mr Hunt at the time, had to file articles of association within 15 days of signing papers in February 2010. The firm did not submit the paperwork until May 2013. Mr Hunt stopped being a director of Hotcourses in 2009, meaning it had not been his responsibility to file them.

In March 2010, Mr Hunt and Mike Elms, a business partner, transferred ownership of a £1.8 million building out of Hotcourses and into their own names before renting it back to the firm. They had to pay tax at a rate of 32.5 per cent. A month after the transaction, the tax rate rose to 42.5 per cent, a saving to Mr Hunt of about £100,000.

Mr Hunt this year admitted breaching rules by failing to declare a 50 per cent interest in a property firm that bought seven flats in Southampton.

His accountants accepted the blame for a “regrettable administrative error”.