‘Questions to answer’ over probe into Tory donor

THE CONSERVATIVES have “serious questions to answer” after HM Revenue and Customs turned down a French request to help with a probe into a major party donor, Labour has said.

BuzzFeed News reported yesterday that HMRC sent correspondence regarding its decision not to seek a search warrant for Lycamobile which noted the telecoms company was the “biggest corporate donor to the Conservative Party” and had donated to the Prince Charles Trust.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said yesterday: “The fact a Tory donor could be allowed to potentially subvert the system will look bad to taxpayers who play by the rules. The Tories have serious questions to answer.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “HMRC is a Government agency, it is part of our Government and it should investigate every company without fear and without favour.”

Tory Treasury Committee chair Nicky Morgan said: “This clearly raises all sorts of questions and is completely inappropriate. I would expect the committee to look into this as part of our economic crime review and to have some early questions for HMRC.”

A spokesman for Lycamobile said: “Lycamobile has not contributed to the Conservative Party since July 2016. Lycamobile continue to deny all allegations being implied by BuzzFeed.”

HMRC sources said facts about political donations were included as “background information”.

A spokesman said: “The application contained insufficient detail to satisfy the legal requirements to secure a warrant.

“After the French request was rejected, HMRC continued to liaise with the French authorities to explain the statutory requirements for a UK search warrant, and offered to meet the French judge face to face to explain those requirements.”