Lord Alli's large donations to senior figures in the Labour Party have come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks. Keir Starmer has admitted he borrowed an £18m flat from the peer, saying he needed a place for his son to revise for his GCSEs.
Alli also paid for tens of thousands of pounds of clothing for the prime minister and his wife, as well as a 40th birthday party for education secretary Bridget Phillipson. The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, has admitted staying in a New York flat owned by Alli last December, saying it was a "personal holiday".
The House of Lords commissioner had not responded to openDemocracy's request for more information about the investigation at the time of publication.
In a statement on its website announcing the probe, the commissioner said: "The fact that an investigation is taking place does not mean that the rules have been broken."
When openDemocracy reviewed Alli's register of interests in August, we found he had declared a chairmanship of 450 PLC, an investment firm based offshore in Jersey. This role does not make the peer any money.
But last week we revealed he had not declared that he had been a director of 450 PLC's subsidiary firm, Mac (BVI) Limited, since April 2023.
When questioned about it by openDemocracy, Alli said the omission was an "unintentional error", adding: "I hadn't realised until you asked that it wasn't listed on my register of interests".
He then added the directorship to his register as a "non-financial interest".
But financial accounts say Alli holds so-called "incentive shares" in the firm.
The documents also note that while Alli does not receive any directorship fees at present, should an acquisition be completed while he is a director, he will receive "a one-off transaction fee of an amount equal to £25,000 per calendar month elapsed between the date of his appointment and a platform acquisition being completed".
This means if an acquisition were made this month, Alli appears to be entitled to £425,000 in directorship fees as part of a long-term incentive arrangement.
Alli, who has given more than £700,000 to Labour over the past two decades, told openDemocracy: "The company has yet to make an acquisition. I don't receive a fee and have no financial interest in the company until an acquisition is made."
He added that both Mac (BVI) Limited and 450 PLC are currently loss-making, but will pay tax in the UK when they make a profit.
Mac (BVI) Limited is based in the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven that has been described as "a destination of choice for those with money to hide" by Transparency International.
Speaking in the Commons in July, Labour's foreign secretary David Lammy pledged to tackle individuals and companies taking advantage of offshore tax havens "with full vigour".
He added: "We were concerned that parts of the last government were turning a blind eye to these issues. I hope to come forward with further proposals in the coming weeks."
openDemocracy has approached Lord Alli for comment.
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