Tony Blair and wife Cherie dodged paying £312k in stamp duty when buying a £6.45m London townhouse, Pandora Papers show
TONY and Cherie Blair dodged paying £312,000 in stamp duty when buying a £6.45million townhouse, documents show.
The ex-Labour Prime Minister and his wife got it by buying the offshore company that owned it.
Ms Blair said the owners had insisted the sale went through that way, but the building was now under UK control so it will be liable for capital gains tax if they sell it on.
Since leaving Downing Street in 2007, the Blairs have built up a £30million property portfolio. Mr Blair has been critical of tax loopholes.
The purchase emerged in a massive data leak dubbed the Pandora Papers — exposing the work of companies offering offshore financial services.
Other cases named VIPs, including hundreds of world leaders, hiding funds collectively worth trillions of pounds.
Some 12million files show more than 330 billionaires, religious leaders, politicians and drug dealers dealing in mansions, beachfront property, yachts and other assets.
Beneficiaries of secret accounts include Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Czech PM Andrej Babis, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and associates of both Pakistani PM Imran Khan and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Putin’s alleged lover alone has property worth more than £70million.
