British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak sacked Conservative Party Chairman Nadhim Zahawi on Sunday (29), who was also a non-government minister, for violating the ministerial code for lack of fiscal transparency.
Following an independent investigation launched on Monday into Zahawi’s behavior regarding his dispute with the IRS, “it is clear that there has been a serious breach of ministerial code,” Sunak wrote in a letter published by Downing Street.
“As a result, I informed him of my decision to remove him from his position in Her Majesty’s Government,” Sunak said.
After media revelations that Zahawi paid millions of pounds to the British tax authorities to settle a dispute, the prime minister on Monday requested an investigation from his independent ethics adviser.
Zahawi paid what he owed the IRS, in addition to sanctions, last year during a brief period when he was finance minister under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Then, with Sunak’s arrival at Downing Street at the end of October, Zahawi became Conservative Party chairman and minister without portfolio.
Ethics adviser Laurie Magnus concluded that Zahawi should have declared the tax investigation he was the subject of and also should have updated his declaration of interests after resolving the matter with the tax authorities.
– “Negligence” –
The case related to the sale of a stake in the research institute YouGov, which Zahawi founded in 2000, valued at 27 million pounds sterling (33.4 million dollars at current exchange rates), to an investment company, Balshore Investments, registered in Gibraltar and linked to the Zahawi family.
Nadhim Zahawi, born in Baghdad to Kurdish parents and who arrived in the UK as a child, alleged “negligence” and not a deliberate act in handling the case.
Sunak, by ousting Zahawi, and not asking him to tender his resignation, intends to reassert his authority, especially after he pledged “integrity, professionalism and responsibility” in taking over as prime minister.
After 13 years in power, the Conservatives have seen their reputation damaged by conflict-of-interest scandals. The scenario has led to increased accusations of corruption by the Labor opposition, which currently leads the polls.
Last year, Sunak himself, when he was finance minister, found himself embroiled in a tax scandal.
The press revealed that his wife, the billionaire Akshata Murty, of Indian nationality, benefited from a tax status that allowed her to avoid paying taxes to the Treasury of the United Kingdom on her earnings abroad.
Sunak was exonerated for breaching the ministerial code, but his wife had to renounce tax status, in a difficult economic context for most Britons, who face double-digit inflation.
Just 10 days ago, Sunak had to pay a fine for not wearing a seat belt when filming a video in the back seat of a car.
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