Jeremy Hunt, health secretary, says it was an “honest mistake” by his accountant that led to his alleged problems with money laundering rules.
Hunt’s delay in declaring an interest in a property company he set up to buy luxury property in Southampton was described as “simply unacceptable” by the parliamentary commissioner.
Mare Pond properties was launched by Hunt in 2017 to buy seven flats in Ocean Village.
Parliamentary register
It’s reported that Hunt failed to declare a 50 per cent interest in the group with Companies House and then didn’t update the parliamentary register of members’ interests within 28 days of taking a stake.
“Jeremy’s accountant made an error in the Companies House filing which was a genuine oversight,” a spokesperson for Hunt said.
They added: “Although there was no personal gain involved, Jeremy accepts these mistakes are his responsibility and has apologised to the parliamentary authorities.”
Hunt sold his student listings company Hotcourses last year for £30m to the Australian firm IDP Education. He owned a 48 per cent stake in the group he helped to set up in the 1990s.
New guidance on money laundering
In other news, HMRC had published some new guidance on money laundering supervision for trusts or company service providers.
The HMRC says: “You’ll have to register with HMRC for supervision under the Money Laundering Regulations if your business is a trust or company service provider, unless you’re already supervised by another body.
“Under the Money Laundering Regulations a trust or company service provider is any company or sole practitioner whose business is to:
- form companies or other legal persons
- provide a registered office, business address, correspondence address, administrative address for a company, partnership, other legal person or arrangement
- act or arrange for another person to act as a:
- director or secretary of a company;
- partner (or in a similar position) for other legal persons;
- trustee of an express trust or similar legal arrangement;
- nominee shareholder for another person, unless the other person is a company listed on a regulated market subject to acceptable disclosure requirements.”-
See you tomorrow.
