Corbyn suggests Queen should apologise for personal wealth invested offshore
● Political figures and celebrities also in leaked papers
The Queen’s finances should fall within the scope of an investigation into the Paradise Papers leak, Jeremy Corbyn has suggested.
The Labour leader indicated the monarch should apologise if it confirmed her private estate invested £10 million of her personal fortune offshore to avoid paying tax in Britain.
The disclosure of 13.4 million previously secret documents reportedly ties major companies and political figures to secretive overseas arrangements. It includes claims that the Queen has £10m of her personal fortune invested in an offshore tax haven.
There is no suggestion that those involved acted illegally.
Asked if the Queen should apologise for the offshore investments revealed in the papers, Mr Corbyn told the CBI’S annual conference in London: “Anyone that is putting money into tax havens in order to avoid taxation in Britain, and obviously investigations have to take place, should do two things – not just apologise for it, but also recognise what it does to our society.
“Because if the very wealthy person wants to avoid taxation in Britain and therefore put money into a tax haven somewhere, who loses? Schools, hospitals, housing, all those public services lose and the rest of the population have to pay to cover up the deficit created by that. And so I think with the Paradise Papers, which I have been reading through like all of us this morning, are quite shocking.”
Later he told Bloomberg TV there should be “an inquiry into all the revelations about the Paradise Papers”.
Asked if that included the Queen, Mr Corbyn replied: “Everybody. The Royal Household are subject to taxation. I don’t know what has happened in that case. These issues all must be part of that.”
After Mr Corbyn’s comments, a spokesman for the Labour leader insisted he did not call for the Queen to apologise.
The Duchy of Lancaster, the private estate of the Queen, was found to have millions of pounds invested in offshore arrangements.
Around £10m from the Queen’s private fund was paid into funds in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda between 2004 and 2005, according to reports.
A small part of the money was traced to a lender which has previously been criticised for ripping off poor customers.
The Queen voluntarily pays tax on any income she receives from the Duchy.
A spokesman for the estate said: “We operate a number of investments and a few of these are with overseas funds. All of our investments are fully audited and legitimate.”
Political figures and celebrities are said to feature in the leaked papers, with stars of hit BBC comedy Mrs Brown’s Boys among the latest named.
Paddy Houlihan, who plays Dermot in the show, Fiona O’carroll, who plays Maria and Martin Delany who stars as Trevor, made use of a scheme that used trusts based in Mauritius and a series of loans and consultancy payments to reduce the tax they paid in the UK and Ireland, it was reported.
Also among those said to be named in the papers are former Conservative treasurer Lord Ashcroft and US president Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, who is reportedly linked to a Russian firm.