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Tory donors own UK properties via more than 150
offshore firms
Simon
Reuben and Nick Candy.
Conservative party donors and property developers
Simon Reuben (left) and Nick Candy. Composite:
People including property developers and peers who
have collectively donated £21m named on new register
Henry Dyer,
Rowena Mason, Ben Quinn and Carmen Aguilar García
Fri 27 Jan
2023 14.45 GMT
Conservative
donors who have collectively given the party more than £21m since 2001 have
been declared as the ultimate owners of UK properties held through more than
150 offshore companies in a new government register.
They
include major property developers, such as the Reuben brothers, David and
Simon, as well as Nick Candy, a UK-based businessman who owns a £160m flat and
other properties through companies based in Guernsey.
Others
include Mohamed Amersi, the telecoms businessman who owns a London property
through a British Virgin Islands (BVI) company, and Sanjeev Gupta, the metals
tycoon behind the steel firm Liberty Global, who owns a Chelsea property through
a company incorporated in the Bahamas.
The
register was created to increase transparency and help the tax authorities by
showing the ultimate owners of British property held offshore. The Guardian
believes there is a public interest in reporting on the business interests and
property ownership structures of those who fund our major political parties,
especially the party of government which makes laws around transparency.
Holding
properties through offshore companies is legal and some individuals may have
genuine and legitimate privacy or security concerns or business reasons for
using them. Some investors also cite the stability of the tax regime in
jurisdictions such as Jersey and Guernsey for a reason their companies are
based there, or they may live abroad.
The tax
regime has become less favourable for those holding property through offshore
companies, which are liable for UK corporation tax, stamp duty, capital gains
on property or share sales, and some are subject to an extra annual tax.
However, the register shows thousands of investors choose to hold their
property assets through offshore vehicles.
All those
named as beneficial owners on the register have complied with their legal
obligations to declare their holdings.
The
property tycoons David and Simon Reuben are both listed as the beneficiaries of
106 companies that own property in the UK, mostly incorporated in the BVI.
Among the UK properties is Admiralty Arch, held across three companies
incorporated in Guernsey. The former government offices at the gateway to the
Mall are being redeveloped into a luxury hotel and private residence.
Through
their firm Investors in Private Capital, the brothers have given more than
£900,000 to the Conservative party since 2008. Investors in Private Capital
also provided furnished office space for a year, worth £85,000, to Boris
Johnson in September.
A
spokesperson for the Reuben brothers said: “All the entities are all liable to
UK taxes and any taxes due have been paid in compliance with HMRC.”
The
telecoms businessman Mohamed Amersi is registered as the beneficial owner of a
property in London through a BVI company. Amersi has given more than £400,000
to the Conservatives since 2018.
Amersi told
the Guardian the company was a development project he funded to convert the
property into flats, most of which had been sold. He said the project had made
a loss, and the company was “likely to be transferred to the long leaseholders
of the flats for a nominal sum, allowing them to manage the property themselves”.
He added:
“My tax advisers have confirmed that the use of BVI companies has not had the
effect of reducing my or anyone else’s tax liability in any way whatsoever.”
Amersi also said the introduction of the register of overseas entities was a
“positive development”.
Gupta had
no comment on his beneficial ownership of a west London property through a
Bahamas company. He has given around £37,000 in auction gifts and hospitality to
two Conservative MPs.
The other
donors on the list include two peers, Irvine Laidlaw, who donated around £3.2m
when the Tories were in opposition, and Stanley Fink, a former Conservative
party treasurer on a leave of absence from the Lords, who has given around
£3.7m over 20 years.
Fink owns
part of the St Pancras Renaissance hotel building, in London, through a
Guernsey-based vehicle. Fink said the structure had been set up before he was
offered the opportunity to invest and he was passionate about the redevelopment
of the Grade I-listed building. “I agreed to make the investment through the
only vehicle offered to me. As I am UK resident, ordinarily resident and
domiciled, I derive no benefit from this arrangement and indeed would have been
equally happy or indeed happier with a UK structure,” Fink said.
“To the
best of my knowledge and belief I have gained no tax benefits from this
structure whatsoever.”
Laidlaw has
a portfolio of offices and houses held through at least nine Isle of Man-based
companies. Laidlaw, who retired from the Lords in 2010, did not respond to a
request to comment through his foundation.
Candy, who
is resident and domiciled in the UK, owns a number of London properties through
Guernsey-based vehicles. He has donated at least £270,000 to the Conservatives.
His £160m flat in Knightsbridge, owned through a Guernsey company, is one of
the most expensive in London and is currently for sale. It is understood the
companies are all UK resident for corporation tax purposes, will pay UK tax on
any gains and that the structure does not reduce any inheritance or other tax
liability.
Amjad Bseisu, the chief executive of the oil firm
EnQuest, who has given more than £450,000 to the Conservatives over the last 10
years, owns a flat in central London through a BVI company.
Bseisu
said: “I confirm that I am the ultimate beneficial owner of Solway Enterprises
Ltd [a BVI company], having acquired a controlling interest. SEL pays the same
UK corporation tax on its rental profits and any future capital gains as any UK
company. There is no present or future UK tax advantage that either myself or
SEL enjoys by SEL being a non-UK company. I can confirm that during my period
of beneficial ownership SEL has been compliant with all UK tax reporting.”
India’s
former solicitor general Harish Salve owns a flat in Mayfair through a company
incorporated in the BVI. Salve said the overseas ownership structure was
established prior to his purchase of the property by its previous owner, and
that inheritance tax would be paid on it. Salve donated £23,000 to the
Conservatives in 2022.
“As a tax
lawyer, I wholeheartedly welcome the government’s move to have a register of
overseas properties,” Salve said. “It is not just in the interest of the
exchequer but also in the interests of transparency that the ownership of
properties be disclosed and the name of the ultimate beneficial owner be in
public domain.”
One former
donor, the venture capitalist Jon Moulton, who gave more than £300,000 between
2004 and 2011, holds a property in central London through companies based in
Guernsey. Moulton said he held them in Guernsey because he lives there, and
described the register as “just more paperwork for me”. He said it did not
reduce his tax liability and added: “I think I’m actually potentially worse off
than UK resident owners on some taxes.”
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