Sunak Sacks Tory Chief Nadhim Zahawi Over Tax Flap

Nadhim Zahawi has been sacked as UK Tory Party chairman, after an inquiry by the prime minister's ethics adviser found he had failed to disclose that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) was investigating his tax affairs, BBC News reported.

Photo Insert: Sunak asked for the probe after Mr. Zahawi admitted paying a settlement to HMRC, including a penalty.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Sir Laurie Magnus's inquiry made clear there had been a "serious breach of the ministerial code."

Rishi Sunak asked for the probe after Mr. Zahawi admitted paying a settlement to HMRC, including a penalty. Sir Laurie said the MP had missed many chances to be open about his tax.

In his report for Mr. Sunak, he wrote: "Mr. Zahawi's conduct as a minister has fallen below the high standards that, as prime minister, you rightly expect from those who serve in your government."

Sir Laurie cited Mr. Zahawi's failures to update his register of interests until more than a year after HMRC started looking into his taxes.

When Zahawi reached a settlement with the taxman in August 2022, this, too, should have been declared, Sir Laurie wrote. Zahawi, who was then responsible for the UK's tax system as chancellor, paid around £5 million in total, including a penalty.

Zahawi has previously insisted that he acted properly, and that his tax error was "careless and not deliberate." But Zahawi's "omissions" of information constituted a "serious failure to meet the standards set out in the ministerial code", Sir Laurie wrote in his report.

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