Riddle over Heston tax haven f irms

Heston Blumenthal was facing awkward questions last night after it emerged his restaurants are controlled by a company registered in a Caribbean tax haven.

the experimental chef is known for using bizarre ingredients and elaborate cooking methods – and the truth about his eateries’ ownership is just as complicated as Mr Blumenthal’s recipes.

the complex web involves corporations based on the Isle of Man – which does not charge tax – and nevis, home to just 11,000 people and one of the most secretive tax havens in the world. the latter has been described as an ideal place to avoid tax and ‘shelter assets’.

Mr Blumenthal, pictured below, set up the Fat Duck, his first restaurant, in Bray, Berkshire, in 1995. A taster menu there – regularly named among the best restaurants in the world – is £325 a head. His expanding empire of Michelin-starred restaurants, serving his signature dishes such as eggs and bacon ice cream, now spreads as far as Australia.

But Mr Blumenthal, 52, no longer owns any of his restaurants, having sold his stake to his father’s step-brother, south Africabased businessman Ronnie Lowenthal, in 2006. Instead he is ‘chef patron’ and his ventures are owned by a UK registered company called sL6, of which Mr Lowenthal is director. Accounts for 2016 show that its immediate parent company was Cape Propriety, incorporated on nevis. Its overall parent company was Lowenthal Corporation, incorporated in the Isle of Man.

sL6 saw turnover of £12.7million in the 12 months to May 28, 2017, but it made a loss of £973,858.

there is no suggestion Mr Blumenthal has done anything wrong, but his use of this corporate structure has raised questions.

Professor Richard Murphy, a tax expert at the University of London, said: ‘Heston Blumenthal may be a good cook, but his business affairs are shrouded in a cloud of mystery.

‘Who really owns his restaurants [and] how much they really make is simply not known.

‘Disclosing who owns a restaurant is as important as listing the sources of food on a menu now. And Blumenthal is failing that test.’

Mr Blumenthal’s Melbourne restaurant is also owned by a company incorporated through a post office box and office suite on nevis at an address mentioned hundreds of times in the notorious Paradise and Panama Papers. the leaks, which included millions of documents, revealed details of how the rich and famous use the offshore financial system to pay less tax. A spokesman for Mr Blumenthal said: ‘All of our UK businesses are operated by UK companies which are fully compliant with all UK tax and legal obligations. Where there are businesses outside the UK, they abide by the laws of the country they operate in.’