A top hedge fund guru whose tax affairs have been scrutinised in the past has given £1.5 million to the Conservative Party, new figures from the Electoral Commission can reveal.
A top hedge fund guru whose tax affairs have been scrutinised in the past has given £1.5 million to the Conservative Party this year, new figures from the Electoral Commission can reveal.
Michael Hintze, whose hedge fund empire CQS reportedly paid just £77,000 in corporation tax in 2010 despite annual earnings of £125 million, has given £2.975 million to the Tory Party since 2002, with a £1.5 million donation in the first quarter of 2014.
Hintze has given a total of £93,200 to individual Conservative MPs, including £37,500 to chancellor George Osborne. He also loaned the party £2,500,000 through his investment trust, Morain Investments, before the 2005 general election.
Hintze’s company CQS handles £5.5 billion worth of investments around the world and pays its UK staff salaries of £125 million. However while licensed to operate in the UK, Hintze’s high-earning traders are officially registered to the company’s off-shore operation in Jersey, meaning the government is potentially losing out on millions of pounds in income and employment taxes.
Hintze’s latest £1.5 million pound donation is 19 times more than the corporation tax reportedly paid by CQS in 2010.
Hintze was also named during the so-called ‘cash for access’ scandal in March 2012, where several attendees at a private dinner with David Cameron were donors who had given more than £50,000 to the Tory Party.
Michael Hintze is also a financial supporter of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, an organisation that regularly casts doubt on the science and cost of climate change.
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6 Responses to “Tories take £1.5 million from controversial hedge fund guru”
Alice
The Natural History Museum are about to rename their main hall after him. http://www.scienceunstained.co.uk/wordpress/?p=197
Yes that main hall, the internationally famous iconic Cathedral to Nature one with the Diplodocus in the middle. The national treasure which belongs to us all but is apparently up for sale if you have the right mates.