UK's Smythson revealed to be based in tax haven

By

Cajsa Lykke Carlson

Published
Feb 3, 2015

Just last year, UK Prime Minister David Cameron spoke out against companies that avoid paying tax in the UK, a controversial subject of late, with many UK citizens boycotting companies like Amazon and Starbucks for being based in tax havens.

"I am opposed to all aggressive tax avoidance," Cameron said in 2014.

Embarrasingly, the Daily Mail today revealed that luxury leather accessories retailer Smythson, for which Cameron's wife Samantha is a consultant, is located in a tax haven.

The company is owned and run by Jacques Bahbout of the Tivoli Group through holding company Holdsmyth, ‘a company incorporated in Luxembourg’ and is ultimately controlled by ‘Ogier Trustee (Jersey) Ltd as trustees of the Barracuda Trust, a trust settled in Guernsey’, the Daily Mail found through annual accounts filed at Companies House.

Both Luxembourg and Guernsey are known tax havens. The Prime Minister's press office told the Daily Mail that it had no comment to make on the company or its tax situation.