Another ‘snout in the trough’ gets a sweetheart deal

Not such a sweetheart: Dave Hartnett, formerly of HMRC, now of Deloitte's. There's a line by Herbert Morris - "something in the lad's upturned face appealed to him. He hurled a brick at it". Would THIS man's upturned face appeal to you in the same way?

Not such a sweetheart: Dave Hartnett, formerly of HMRC, now of Deloitte’s. There’s a line by Herbert Morris – “something in the lad’s upturned face appealed to him. He hurled a brick at it”. Would THIS man’s upturned face appeal to you in the same way?

Dave Hartnett, the former tax executive responsible for the hugely controversial “sweetheart deals” that allowed multinational corporations including Vodafone and Starbucks to avoid paying billions of pounds in taxes to the UK treasury, has started work with Deloitte, the accountancy firm and auditor of – guess who? – Vodafone and Starbucks.

Hartnett quit as Permanent Secretary for Tax at HM Revenue and Customs and then took on the one-day-a-week role (according to, among others, The Independent). Deloitte – one of the so-called ‘Big Four’ accountancy firms at the heart of every major scheme for tax avoidance – continues in its role at the UK Treasury, helping (if you can call it that) to write the law on – guess what? – tax avoidance.

Considering all of the above, does anybody seriously expect us to believe that Hartnett was working for the public when he was at HMRC?

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10 Comments

  1. Phil The Folk May 29, 2013 at 1:28 pm - Reply

    Wasn’t he also connected to those two tax avoiding brothers in the channell islands Mike?

    • Mike Sivier May 29, 2013 at 2:00 pm - Reply

      Without more to go on, I can’t recall.

      • Phil The Folk May 29, 2013 at 2:31 pm - Reply

        I was referring to the Barclay brothers. I’m sure there was a programme recenlty, that connected his name to them, and their tax affairs.

      • Mike Sivier May 29, 2013 at 2:53 pm - Reply

        It might have been Panorama. I’ll dig a bit more later.

  2. Mike Sivier May 29, 2013 at 2:03 pm - Reply

    Vodafone’s head of tax at the time of the sweetheart deal, John Connors, was a former colleague of Hartnett’s at HMRC (according to Wikipedia but let’s hope it’s accurate).

  3. Steven Goodman May 29, 2013 at 2:19 pm - Reply

    Bang to f**king rights lets haul him in front of the law courts for what it is – defrauding the public purse!

  4. rainbowwarriorlizzie May 29, 2013 at 2:40 pm - Reply
  5. A Crossland May 30, 2013 at 9:10 am - Reply

    Isn’t that classed as insider trading ? Or just plain fraud?

  6. Derek Robinson May 31, 2013 at 5:39 pm - Reply

    It’s just outrageous corruption pure and simple and the arrogance of it is done in your face.
    It’s about time the law started flexing it’s muscle and putting these bastards on trial.

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