Nadhim Zahawi: the past business dealings of the new chancellor

theguardian.com:

Nadhim Zahawi, who aspires to becoming a tax-cutting chancellor, has legitimately used a tax haven for family investments while building a colourful portfolio of outside interests.

The Conservative MP for Stratford-upon-Avon, 55, began his new job at the Treasury on Wednesday having previously faced scrutiny over his past dealings with oil companies, medical firms and a tax haven.

Before being elected to parliament in 2010, Zahawi was perhaps best known for co-founding the highly successful research firm YouGov, where he was chief executive until February of that year.

After he stepped down from YouGov, a company referred to in Companies House documents as “the family trust of the Zahawi family” held £20m of YouGov shares. The Guardian disclosed that the firm, called Balshore Investments, operated from a lawyers’ office in Gibraltar.

Another Gibraltar-based firm, Berkford Investments Limited, lent Zahawi money to buy an estate and riding stables, now worth £1m, in the village of Upper Tysoe, near Stratford-upon-Avon.

Documents obtained from Companies House in Gibraltar showed that Berkford Investments Limited was managed by T&T Management Services Limited, which shares the same address.

T&T Management Services Limited’s website advertises its services as administering trusts for wealthy individuals and families to manage their assets, and avoid or minimise paying property taxes.

Once in parliament, Zahawi profited from a second job with Gulf Keystone Petroleum, which paid him £52,325 in backpay in October 2015 and a monthly salary of £20,000 from October 2015, rising to almost £30,000 a month in August 2017, and about £330,000 in bonus payments.

He stepped down from the firm when he became a government minister in 2018, at which