PM Defends Finances Amid Offshore Fund Claims

David Cameron addresses claims about his father's tax affairs after Jeremy Corbyn calls for a probe of a huge offshore data leak.

21:04, UK, Tuesday 05 April 2016

Video: PM Defends His Financial Affairs

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David Cameron has denied getting any personal benefit from an offshore fund run by his father after details emerged in the Panama Papers leak.

The Prime Minister spoke after Jeremy Corbyn demanded an independent investigation into the tax affairs of Britons linked to the Panama leaks, including Mr Cameron's family.
In response to a question from Sky's Faisal Islam at an event in Birmingham, the PM said: "In terms of my own financial affairs, I own no shares.
"I have a salary as Prime Minister and I have some savings, which I get some interest from and I have a house, which we used to live in, which we now let out, while we're living in Downing Street - and that's all I have.
"I have no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that."

Video: PM 'Should Tell Us What's Going On'

The PM said he would back HMRC to investigate the millions of documents emerging from Panama to ensure "companies and individuals are paying their taxes properly".
According to The Guardian, papers leaked from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca are said to suggest Mr Cameron's late father Ian ran an offshore fund that avoided having to pay tax in Britain by hiring Bahamas residents to sign its paperwork.
Downing Street insists it was a "private matter" whether the Cameron family still had funds in offshore investments.
But while launching Labour's local elections campaign on Tuesday, Mr Corbyn told reporters: "It's a private matter in so far as it's a privately held interest, but it's not a private matter if tax has not been paid.

Video: How Do Offshore Accounts Work?

"So an investigation must take place, independent investigation, unprejudiced, to decide whether or not tax is owed."
The Labour leader said a probe by HM Revenue and Customs should be "about the amount of money of all people that have invested in these shell companies or put money into tax havens".
He said he also wanted HMRC "to calculate what tax they should have paid over the years".
Asked whether the PM should resign if he is found to have benefited, he replied: "Let's take one thing at a time. We need openness, we need an examination, we need a decision after that."

Video: Probe Launched Into Data Leak

Pressed about his own taxes, Mr Corbyn said: "There is no problem with my tax affairs, they are very, very limited indeed. I have got an income as an MP, sadly I have got no family trusts of any sort."
Among the revelations in the Panama Papers is a network of secret deals and loans worth $2bn (£1.4bn) which apparently leads to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Others said to be involved in the schemes include the prime minister of Iceland, who has now resigned after thousands called for him to quit in the wake of the scandal.