Nadhim Zahawi confirms he has paid almost £5million for tax mistakes

Former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has confirmed to the BBC that he has paid almost £5 million to the authorities to settle his tax affairs.

The settlement related to an investigation by HMRC into the allocation of shares in YouGov, a polling company he founded before becoming an MP.

Mr Zahawi regretted that he was not more explicit in his ministerial statement on the tax scheme. He acknowledged that he should have provided more details about how the settlement was reached. However, he stressed that HMRC determined the error was not intentional and classified it as a ‘careless error’.

The controversy over Mr Zahawi’s taxes led to his resignation as chairman of the Tory party in January last year, following an ethics investigation initiated by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The investigation found that Mr Zahawi had failed to adequately disclose his tax affairs investigated by HMRC and concluded there had been a serious breach of the ministerial code.

Mr Zahawi, who announced he would stand down as MP for Stratford-on-Avon at the next election, admitted responsibility for his mistakes lies with him. He regrets that he did not provide sufficient information about the tax scheme in his ministerial statement.