Labour have asked tax chiefs to investigate Sajid Javid’s financial affairs after fresh revelations about the top Tory’s business dealings.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting wrote to HMRC on Tuesday, asking chiefs to waive time limits to look into an arrangement that took place in 2005.
Companies House records, first reported by Private Eye, show Mr Javid became the director of his brother’s firm SA Capital for one day in May 2005 before resigning.
In that year the firm raised £996,000 in loans, only £411,000 of which were through secured bank loans. The source of the other £585,000 is not made clear in the accounts.
The firm also lent £491,000 to an unknown party in that year, again not accounted for in accounts.
Health Secretary Mr Javid has previously confirmed he was a non-dom for tax purposes at the time due to his career in international finance. That meant he did not have to pay UK tax on foreign income.
He also had some of his wealth in an offshore trust until he became a minister in 2012.
Mr Streeting said in his letter to HMRC chief executive Jim Harra: “If the purpose of the loans were to provide a tax-efficient way for money held offshore to enter Britain, then Mr Javid potentially avoided paying hundreds of thousands of pounds to HMRC.
“I urge you to investigate this further to establish the facts of this case, and to ensure that the people of this nation are taxed fairly and equitably.
“I am aware of the standard time-limit on these investigations, but would ask you to consider the public interest nature of this case and the need to demonstrate to the public that not even Cabinet ministers are above the law when it comes to paying their taxes.
“Would you consider an exemption to the time-limit if an individual were to self-refer for investigation?”
Mr Javid blasted the claims as a “ Labour smear” when he was asked about the detail on Sky News.
Despite his non-dom status allowing him to avoid tax before he gave it up in 2009, when asked if he avoided hundreds of thousands of pounds in tax, he replied: “No, of course not, this is typical Labour personal attacks on people.
“This is what Labour does when they’ve got nothing to say about the real issues at hand.”
He added: “This is just typical smear attacks by Labour and it’s nothing more.”
Asked if the loans were to “provide a tax-efficient way for money held offshore to enter Britain”, he replied: “I’ve been very clear about my own tax affairs, my tax status, my residences when I worked in the UK, when I worked abroad.”
He added: “All rules of course have always been followed.”
Mr Javid said: “This is a typical Labour smear campaign where they don’t have any evidence on anything and they’re just making things up so they can launch personal attacks.”
He added: “Some 20 years ago did I invest in my brother’s business to help him start a new business? Of course I did… Thats all there is to this, that’s all there is.”
