POLL: Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has admitted a criminal offence. What should be done with him?
Smirking: Yet again, Jeremy Hunt seems to have got away with it.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is a criminal.
He may never go to prison for his offence because he is a Conservative cabinet member and that means corruption – but we can all see the truth of it.
Hunt bought seven luxury flats in Southampton with his wife – they acted as a company called Mare Pond Properties – then failed to notify the Register of Members’ Interests in Parliament within the required 28-day period, or Companies House. When the registration documents were filed in September 2017 only his wife was named, constituting a breach of regulations. His failure to declare his interest to Companies House is a criminal offence. It took him months to rectify these omissions.
According to The Guardian, “He also breached the Companies Act, which requires anyone with more than 25 per cent control of a company to be declared ‘a person with significant control’. The act was introduced by David Cameron’s government in 2015 to tackle money laundering and came into force the following year.”
Hunt says these were genuine errors – an “honest mistake”.
His spokesperson said Hunt notified the Cabinet Office in good time but did not realise he was supposed to register the holdings with the other organisations.
Do you believe that? Even if you do, does it make a difference?
Mr @Jeremy_Hunt should resign, unless members of the public only need to say sorry when they breach anti-money laundering legislation. The double standards are astonishing.
— Rachael Swindon (@Rachael_Swindon) April 13, 2018
They are indeed. In addition to the new offences against money-laundering legislation, Mr Hunt is also a tax dodger, having avoided £100,000 in tax in 2010, days before a 10 per cent rise in the tax on dividends in April 2010.
Let’s let the Telegraph, of all periodicals, explain:
“[Mr Hunt] and his business partner, Mike Elms, transferred ownership of their company’s office building in Hammersmith into their own names in April 2010, just before the tax rate for the transaction rose to 42.5 per cent. They then leased the property back to Hotcourses, their jointly owned education company, for 10 years.
“By paying themselves the building as a dividend before the change in tax rules, the two men saved themselves an income tax bill of £202,000 on the £1.8 million deal, by paying tax on it at the rate of 32.5 per cent. The company now pays them £60,750 a year in rent. No stamp duty was payable on the property, which at the time would have been 4 per cent.”
Nauseating.
The Tory government is adamant that there is nothing to be done about this. Hunt has apologised and the matter is closed.
Shadow cabinet office minister Jon Trickett disagrees. He has referred the case to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. He said: “Faith in politics and politicians is at a historic low. Any minister flouting the rules designed to prevent big financial interests corrupting politics must be held to account, especially when that minister’s own government introduced the rules.”
What do you think, though?
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The whole thing looks staged to me.
Possibly a political compromise to save face, some empty warehouses were bombed.
But that still doesn’t excuse the UN shrugging it’s shoulders and saying “naughty children, don’t do it again”
If we cast our minds back to the Parliamentary Expenses frauds Hunt was a big offender there. However, he was allowed to get away with it on the childish excuse that he “didn’t understand” the rules. I wrote to the Parliamentary Standards Committee at the time that ignorance of the law is no excuse. But, as always, the Establishment looks after its own.
Nothing will be done he as the right to do as we want the legal system is run by Tories and murder is OK
An apology should only be the end of the matter if that rule also applies to the general public.
Would someone like to point to the section of the act that constitutes this as a criminal offence rather than one where a civil penalty is payable?
Honest mistake??? He s Tory, nothing they do is honest.
The whole of the ‘Tory’ government are ‘international criminals’ now anyway! They all know they can break the ‘UK law with impunity whenever it suits them and there is a good chance they will get away with it. They ‘benefit’ from a very different set of rules to the general electorate and having loads of dosh means they can purchase a different level of ‘justice’ that simply isn’t available to ordinary people! They are ‘all in it together’!
Tarred and feathered comes to mind..