In a statement, Mr Amersi said he categorically rejected “any suggestions of wrongdoing” in his work as a consultant. “One needs to cough up £250,000 per annum or be a friend of Ben,” he told the Financial Times.
He revealed in July that a group of wealthy Tory donors known as the “advisory board” had been developed to connect the party’s biggest financial backers with ministers.Ī client of Tory co-chair Ben Eillot’s concierge company Quintessentially, Mr Amersi said the donors’ group worked in a similar way to the private firm. Mr Amersi – who was at the centre of an alleged “cash for access” row in the summer – has given nearly £525,000 to the party since 2018, Electoral Commission records show. Mr Sunak also told the BBC that the Tory Party follows the law by carrying out all required “compliance checks” on donors. I’ve seen these things overnight … and of course HMRC will look through those to see if there’s anything we can learn.”Īsked if London’s reputation as a centre for tax avoidance was a source of shame, the chancellor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t think it’s a source of shame because actually our track record on this issue is very strong. They said underlying arrangements for the deal were in place two years before his involvement.Ĭhancellor Rishi Sunak said on Monday that the HMRC will inspect the leaked Pandora Papers, the documents arranged by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) exposing the secret financial dealings of some of the world’s most powerful people.Īsked if he had ever benefited from an offshore arrangement, he told Sky News: “No.
Mr Amersi’s lawyers have denied that he “knowingly” helped facilitate any corrupt payments and had “no reason” to believe the money given to Ms Karimova might be a bribe. The Tory donor was involved in the controversial payment to Ms Karimova using a Gibraltar-based offshore company in 2010, according to an investigation by BBC Panorama and The Guardian. Mr Amersi’s name featured in the massive leak of financial documents known as the “ Pandora papers”, which allegedly tie world leaders to secret stores of wealth. The Swedish company was later fined £700m by the US authorities over the deal and accepted that the money given to Gulnara Karimova was a “corrupt payment”.
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