British tax officials investigate Lloyds for China ‘tax dodge’

LONDON – British tax authorities are investigating allegations that staff at Lloyds Banking Group encouraged rich clients to channel money through China to avoid taxes at home.

The allegations were made in a probe by the BBC’s ‘Panorama’ programme which showed what it said was hidden camera footage of a bank employee in the Channel Island of Jersey advising an undercover reporter who said he had four million pounds (US$6,5 million dollars) to invest.The bank said the employee involved has been suspended pending an investigation, adding it ‘strongly and categorically refute(s) any allegation of involvement in systematic or deliberate tax evasion’.The civil servant in charge of tax at Britain’s revenue and customs department, Dave Harnett, told the BBC the advice was ‘incredibly irresponsible’ and a spokesman for the department said the BBC’s evidence would be looked at.Jersey, a British protectorate with its own parliament and legal system, is one of the tax havens which has come under growing pressure during the world financial crisis to be more transparent.Its authorities stress they have signed agreements to share information about attempted tax dodging.Lloyds is 43 per cent owned by the British taxpayer following the financial crisis.- Nampa-AFP