SCOTTISH Labour's new headquarters have been linked to an EU-blacklisted tax haven.
An investigation by The Herald found that the party had accepted the lease to a building linked to the son of Labour peer Willie Haughey.
The leasehold of the former bank in Glasgow was acquired for £400,000 by a telecoms firm controlled by Kenny Haughey.
However, while the company – CommsFM Ltd – is registered in Scotland it is the subsidiary of a firm incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
The British Virgin Islands were recently added to the European Union’s tax haven blacklist due to the secrecy of financial dealings occurring there.
The company has also been involved in moving Scottish Labour’s HQ to Rutherglen ahead of the move into the new building – set to be named Donald Dewar House – next year.
There is no suggestion that any crime has been committed. However, the SNP said the revelation was a “bombshell” just days before voters go to the polls in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election.
Clare Haughey, the SNP MSP for Rutherglen, said: "Just two days before the voters of Hamilton and Rutherglen West go to the polls, these bombshell revelations raise serious questions for Scottish Labour. While claiming to be on the side of hardworking households, it looks like Anas Sarwar is leading his party dangerously close to dodgy dealings.
"If Scottish Labour has any credibility whatsoever, Anas Sarwar will now abandon these plans to relocate to these premises and sever all ties with business linked to tax havens.
"Scottish Labour must now come clean over this whole affair. These scandalous revelations show exactly how poor Anas Sarwar's judgment is and reminds the people of Scotland how unfit to govern Labour are.”
The building at 141 Norfolk Street in Laurieston was leased by CommsFM Ltd in March after it reached a formal agreement with HBL Bank UK Ltd and Glasgow City Council’s property offshoot City Property Glasgow (Investments) LLP.
The bank had originally acquired the building from the council in the 1980s on a 99-year lease.
However, it agreed to assign the lease to CommsFM Ltd for £399 500.
Kenny Haughey, a resident of Switzerland, is the sole “person with significant control” over CommsFM Ltd.
But the firm is 100% owned by Impulse Management Ltd, which is based out of a PO Box in Tortula in the British Virgin Islands.
As such, the ownership of Impulse Management Ltd is not public.
A spokesperson for Scottish Labour said: “Scottish Labour pays commercial rent to a UK based company for use of their facilities.
“Our office arrangements have been agreed between Scottish Labour and a company registered in Scotland.
“The Herald’s Glasgow offices are based in a building owned by Covault, a company registered in the Isle of Man with a controlling owner based in Monaco.”
