Newspaper Article

It comes down to a matter of trusts The Minister, the off-shore tax havens and the Belgian multi-millionairess. One week after the Observer's revelations, Geoffrey Robinson's job is on the line. Has he done enough to save it?

JONATHAN CALVERT, DAVID CONNETT, MICHAEL GILLARD, DAVID HARRISON, LUCY JOHNSTON, BEN LAURENCE, JOHN HENLEY, JOHN HOOPER AND LARA LEVY

1997

Overview

The emerging story was highly embarrassing to the Government. Robinson and his family were the potential beneficiaries of a Guernsey-based trust containing assets worth at least pounds 12.5 million. As experts were quick to point out, the only possible motive for placing assets in a Channel Islands trust is so that it avoids tax in the UK. Robinson has not offered any alternative explanation. And yet as Paymaster-General at the Treasury, Robinson is charged with raising and collecting the nation's taxes. He has personal responsibility for overseeing the windfall tax and reviewing corporation tax. To make matters worse, he is also part of a Labour team pledged to clamp down on the use of tax havens. Gordon Brown made it clear before the election: 'A Labour Chancellor will not permit tax reliefs to millionaires in offshore tax havens.' The story quickly snowballed. Last weekend the Sunday Times alleged that Robinson had links to a series of other offshore trusts set up in the tax haven of Bermuda in the names of some members of his family. The claims concerned a transaction six years ago and were quickly rebuffed by Robinson. But he could not so easily dismiss the Observer's story that same Sunday about the Guernsey trust.

• Publisher: Guardian News & Media Limited