2011-2012: enquiries into HMRC’s lenient tax deals with Goldman Sachs and HSBC

In 2011 Dave Hartnett retired after several disasters while he was head of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

He signed a deal which meant that Goldman Sachs did not have to pay a £10million tax bill and negotiated a tax deal which, it was reported, granted HSBC’s bankers virtually guaranteed immunity from prosecution for any crimes they might have committed relating to tax fraud in Switzerland. In January 2013 he moved on to work at HSBC.

Headline: As HMRC boss, Dave Hartnett persecuted small taxpayers while striking deals with tax-avoiding giants

He was questioned about the 107 breakfasts, lunches and dinners he enjoyed over three years with big firms. Accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG were the most active hospitality providers, though Fujitsu, BT, Deloitte and arms giant BAE were also frequent lobbyists. He took on a paid advisory role with tax consultancy Deloitte after leaving office.

Osita Mba, a solicitor on HMRC’s criminal and information law advisory team, denounced Mr Hartnett’s handling of the Goldman Sachs case

He presented nearly 100 pages of press cuttings, excerpts from speeches, transcripts, official policies and legal arguments, some of which he turned into an academic article on taxpayer confidentiality published in the British Tax Review.

Mba receiving a Whistleblower’s Award

Its centrepiece was a leaked internal legal memo suggesting Mr Hartnett had “shaken hands” with Goldman on a deal that waived interest

The storm that broke around Mr Mba left him shaken and fearful about his future,. He was put on paid leave by HMRC as it pursued a leaks investigation and claimed protection under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.

In an article about a visit to India, which made references to Mr Hartnett’s travelling companion and expensive lifestyle, Andrew Malone for the Mail summarised:

• Hartnett failed to pursue HSBC or its clients over a private banking scandal
• This week, journalists revealed secret files showing bank’s Swiss operation
• It laid out how the bank helped the rich and powerful to hide billions in assets
• The cache of documents was stolen by HSBC official called Herve Falciani
• He emailed Hartnett’s special tax evasion unit in 2008 but no action waa taken

Dave Hartnett worked with his successor Lin Homer (Ed: another predictably disastrous appointment] during his final months in office.

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