Stratford MP claimed almost £6,000 to heat second home...

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Stratford MP Nadhim Zahawi claimed almost £6,000 on expenses in just 12 months to heat his second home, an investigation has discovered.



The millionaire Tory MP topped a Sunday Mirror investigation, which revealed 340 MPs claimed £200,000 in a year for their energy bills.

According to the newspaper, Mr Zahawi clawed back a staggering £5,822 in one year – more than four times the average household energy bill.

It is claimed the money was used to power and heat his £1million constituency home in a 31-acre estate. Mr Zahawi and his wife run a riding
school and he is a director of a number of firms. He also owns a £5m home in London.

The Sunday Mirror investigation comes after new research shows eight out of ten ­households will be forced to ration their energy this winter and a campaign group said it fears 200 pensioners a day could die because they can’t afford to heat their homes.

Clare Welton, of Fuel Poverty Action, said: “When the Government’s only response to millions of people not being able to afford their fuel bills
is to tell us to change supplier or wear a jumper, it is outrageous to see MPs claiming hefty amounts of taxpayer money to pay for their own bills.”

The MPs’ utility bills expenses are revealed in documents from the ­Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority between April 2012 and March 2013.

In total, 41 politicians claimed more than £1,000 for power and heat and a further 78 MPs more than £500 in the 12 months up to March this year.

The investigation showed Nuneaton MP Marcus Jones claimed £689.45 for electricity, gas and other fuel, while Dan Byles, north Warwickshire MP, claimed £450.89.

Kenilworth and Southam MP Jeremy Wright claimed £153.75, while Coventry MPs Jim Cunningham and Bob Ainsworth claimed £100.01 and £94 respectively. Rugby MP Mark Pawsey received £81.

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Even though it's unlikely that they guy has done anything wrong ("it's within the rules!") I personally find his (and the other MPs) actions obscene.

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This is interesting....



Source : Mirror

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Millionaire Tory MP claimed expenses to heat stables

A millionaire Tory MP has admitted claiming expenses for electricity used to run the stables on his private estate.

Nadhim Zahawi MP said he was "mortified" by the discovery and promised to pay back any money found to have been wrongly claimed.

Last week a Sunday Mirror investigation found Mr Zahawi had been paid £5,822 from the taxpayers' pocket for a single year's energy bills – more than any other MP.

In a written apology posted on his website yesterday Mr Zahawi said he had "made a mistake" when calculating his electricity bill.

He explained that costs from the horse riding school stables and yard manager's mobile home, part of a business which the MP runs on his estate, were accidentally included in the bill for his second home.

The revelation has led to calls for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) to investigate Mr Zahawi's expenses claims.

Labour MP John Mann said his constituents would be "expecting a knock on the door from the police" if they had made a similar error and urged IPSA to find out why the mistake wasn't spotted sooner.

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I think that's called fraud isn't it?

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Warwickshire Tory MP used firm in tax haven to buy his £1m home



Millionaire MP Nadhim Zahawi used a company in an offshore tax haven to buy his constituency home in Warwickshire.

Conservative MP Mr Zahawi – an adviser to David Cameron – used the company in low-tax Gibraltar as a lender to buy an estate and riding stables now worth £1 million in Upper Tysoe, near Stratford-upon-Avon, in 2011.

Berkford Investments Limited were traced to a PO box in the British overseas territory off Spain and to a residential address in Putney, south London.

Documents obtained from Companies House in Gibraltar show Berkford Investments Limited is managed by T&T Management Services Limited, which shares the same address.

T&T Management Services Limited’s website advertises its services as administering trusts for wealthy individuals and families to manage their assets, and avoid or minimise paying property taxes.

The company’s website specifically mentions avoiding inheritance tax when property is passed on to the next generation after death, and capital gains tax when a property is sold.

Assets held in offshore companies have escaped the UK tax net, and companies based in Gibraltar benefit from its low business taxes.

Using offshore companies is commonplace and not unlawful. There is no suggestion that Mr Zahawi or his wife avoided any taxes by financing their purchase with a mortgage from the Gibraltar-based company.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Mr Zahawi’s MP expense claims for his Upper Tysoe 31-acre ‘second home’ estate included energy bills of £5,800 in 2012/13, including for his riding school business.

MPs’ expenses can only be claimed “wholly, exclusively and necessarily” in performing Parliamentary duties.

Mr Zahawi initially denied wrongdoing, but later admitted a “mistake” in claiming for the riding school, and pledged to pay back any claim made in error.

“While a meter was installed in the stable yard I have only been receiving one bill and had not deducted usage on that meter from my claims,” he explained.

Mr Zahawi and his wife Lana used the Gibraltar company when the couple became the “registered owners” for Oaklands stables in May 2011, a year after the London-based wealthy businessman became MP for Stratford.

The couple bought the property for £875,000, and Berkford Investments Limited is registered as the “lender” for the purchase. Documents state a charge as security against the property is owned by the lender “Berkford Investments Limited (incorporated in Gibraltar)”.

Two addresses are given for the company – a residential property in Putney, London SW15, and 28 Irish Town, PO Box 15, Gibraltar. Company records trace Berkford Investments Limited back to 2006.

Gibraltar promotes itself as a low-tax location for finance and business. It features heavily in websites advising the wealthy on how to minimise taxes by setting up a company there.

Despite Gibraltar’s long-standing reputation as a tax haven, it is not among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s list of “uncooperative tax havens” – set up to help stamp out tax evasion and improve transparency.

Mr Zahawi was asked whether he considered it politically unwise to have any arrangement with Berkford and T&T Management Services Ltd, given the latter advertises its services in setting up and administering trusts to help the wealthy minimise or avoid property taxes.

Mr Zahawi responded: “I did pay stamp duty on my property in Tysoe and have always paid stamp duty on my property purchases.

“I fully support the 2012 budget and all budgets of this government. I purchased my property in Tysoe with a mortgage from a Gibraltar company.

"This fact and the details involved are fully declared on the Land Registry and to suggest it is in any way hidden would be factually incorrect.

“Equally, to suggest that in any way I am using offshore to reduce my tax burden is entirely incorrect.”

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22 carrat turd!