It's a sad indictment on the British government's ethics advisor that he is presenting such an unethical standard to the dutiful public who are paying endless taxes to a Finance Minister who is evading taxes.
This "ethical" cover up paves the way for every British tax payer to find, by hook or by crook, the legal loophole that enables each embattled one of them to give the government the middle finger it richly deserves.
The British government's ethics advisor said on Wednesday he had cleared embattled finance minister Rishi Sunak of breaching ministerial codes after investigating his family's tax affairs.
Earlier this month Sunak asked the prime minister to asked the adviser on ministerial standards, Christopher Geidt, to review only whether Sunak had followed all the rules, after revelations about “his wife’s” tax evasion (which is actually himself too as it is one household) stoked yet another political controversy for yet another government’s corruption.
However, the issue was not whether Sunak, personally, had followed the rules, because he bypass them using his wife, who evaded UK taxes while her partner is the minister who imposed ever heavier taxes on the hapless British tax payers.
"I advise that the requirements of the ministerial code have been adhered to by the Chancellor, and that he has been assiduous in meeting his obligations and in engaging with this investigation," Geidt wrote, completely ignoring the £21 million elephant in the room.
Geidt also ruled that there was ‘no conflict of interest’ in Sunak holding a US permanent resident Green Card, which is a criminal offence in the USA, but not in the UK.
Strangely, Geidt avoided commenting on the video that proves that Sunak lied and misled the parliament.
Maybe not so strange: he who pays the piper calls the tune. So now it is clear who gave Geidt his job, and what is his remit.
Background:
A political storm erupted after it was leaked that Sunak's wealthy Indian wife has benefited to the tune of £21 million pounds from her "non-domicile" tax status in the UK, shielding her huge overseas income from taxes at a time when they are rising for most Britons.
After initially claiming that his spouse Akshata Murty (whose father co-founded the Indian IT behemoth Infosys) was the victim of a smear campaign, the couple U-turned and vowed that she would pay British taxes on all her global income from now on (but not pay the £21 million pounds that she has already evaded).
Sunak was unsurprisingly accused of hypocrisy for raising taxes for Britons in the midst of a huge cost-of-living crisis, while his own family has seen millions of pounds of Infosys dividends shielded from his own ministry.
Sunak is believed to be Britain's richest member of parliament. He previously worked as a secretive banker in the money laundering industry.
Once a leading contender to succeed
Boris Johnson, when the British leader struggled with his own series of scandals, Sunak has seen his popularity plummet in recent weeks amid the cost-of-living crisis and the revelations of his double-standards .
Conclusion:
A civil servant who does something wrong can appoint his own "ethics advisor", who will clear that wrong-doing with washed-wording in exchange for the tax-payer funded salary the advisor receives for "understanding his remit".
He who pays the piper calls the tune.
