Conservative Party co-chair Ben Elliott jointly owned a secret offshore film financing company, which indirectly benefited from over £120,000 of UK tax credits.
The revelation that Elliot owns a British Virgin Islands-based company—which he owns to Tory colleague and minister Zack’s brother Ben Goldsmith—will raise new questions for the businessman, who already has a slew of ultra-wealthy but controversial political donors. . provoked widespread criticism.
The Pandora Papers leak sheds light on a BVI company Elliot and Goldsmith was funded to create fire in babylonThe pair’s 2010 documentary film about the great West Indies cricket team of the 1970s and 80s.
An analysis of the financial disclosures showed that the two had a controlling stake in BVI Company, a British subsidiary that made the film. The UK company received a £600,000 loan from its BVI parent in 2008, as well as a £121,000 loan from a government scheme designed to encourage film production in the UK between 2009 and 2011 .
The film made a small loss, and without the tax credit the subsidiary would not have been able to fully repay its offshore creditors, the largest of which was Elliott and Goldsmith’s BVI Company, which lent most of its funds to the UK business. Was.
While this arrangement did not violate any tax rules or laws, it does raise the question of whether government film schemes should help fund controlled projects in tax havens. If the fire in Babylon had become profitable, the structure could also provide some tax benefits.
Elliot, a well-connected Old Etonian and nephew of the Duchess of Cornwall, co-owns the luxury concierge group Quintessentially, which has earned her a reputation as a fixer for the super-rich. He is credited with raising a record £37m for the Tories general election campaign in 2019.
Goldsmith, who also participated in Eaton, is a financier and a Non-Executive Director in the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)where his brother is a minister.
Both Elliot and Goldsmith are close to Boris and Carrie Johnson. In July 2020, Elliot held a fire screening in Babylon for the prime minister and his wife at their Downing Street flat, which was also attended by the chancellors, Rishi Sunak and Ben Goldsmith.
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