Avoid tax, come to Gib, Thatcher seeks new refuge in the sun
ginger-haired-lard-arsed-money-grabbing-bitch
Thatcher seeks new refuge in the sun
Maurice Chittenden
Search for £1m penthouse on Gibraltar
SIR Mark Thatcher, the wayward son of the former prime minister, is
seeking tax exile in Gibraltar. If successful, he could escape with
paying just £20,000 a year on the income from his £64m fortune.
Thatcher, 53, has consulted tax experts and is househunting for a £1m
penthouse on the Rock.
Insiders say he will apply for residency under a new status designed to
attract the super-rich to the British dependency and help it compete
with more glamorous homes for tax exiles such as Monaco.
All Thatcher has to do is pay a £1,000 fee, prove he is worth at least
£2m, provide two references and buy or rent a property "appropriate
to sustaining the lifestyle of a wealthy individual".
He does not even have to stay in Gibraltar. Once accepted, his income
tax will be capped at £20,000 per annum.
The Rock, adjoining Spain, seems certain to grant refuge to a man who
has become wealthy through controversial arms deals in the Middle East
and Africa and money bequeathed by his father.
For Thatcher it is almost a last port of call. America, Switzerland and
Monaco have all turned him down.
The businessman, known as "Scratcher" to old public school chums,
is still in disgrace after his role in an attempted coup to overthrow
the government of the oil-rich African state of Equatorial Guinea in
2004.
Thatcher, who inherited his baronetcy from Sir Denis Thatcher, pleaded
guilty in South Africa last year to helping to pay for a military
helicopter that was to be used by mercenaries involved in the abortive
coup. He was fined £265,000 and given a four-year suspended prison
sentence.
The Gibraltar government said last week that such a criminal conviction
would not be a bar to granting residency.
Mark Hollingsworth, author of Thatcher's Fortunes, a biography of the
businessman, said: "It is the whole offshore, spooky nature of
Gibraltar that will appeal to him. Nothing gives him more pleasure than
setting up elaborate and mysterious tax avoidance schemes."
Thatcher left Cape Town in disgrace after his role in the failed coup
was revealed. The US thwarted his plans to join his wife Diane and two
children in Texas by refusing him a visa because of his criminal
record. The couple are now divorcing after 18 years of marriage.
Thatcher has since been turned down by Monaco and Switzerland.
The businessman, who stays with his mother in Belgravia when he is in
London, has been spotted in Gibraltar looking at luxury new
developments.
These include Ocean Village, a series of apartments set around a marina
with a 50ft wide waterfall, and Trade Winds, a three-tower complex
being built by Taylor Woodrow, former donors to the Tory party when his
mother was leader.
Thatcher is expected to split his time between Gibraltar and a
four-bedroom villa above the Spanish resort of Marbella 50 miles away.
He moved into the £3,000-a-week rented villa earlier this year with
his new girlfriend, Sarah-Jane, 41, the estranged wife of Lord Francis
Russell, the property developer son of the 13th Duke of Bedford.
Thatcher has told friends he is now running an asset management firm.
For the past 20 years his money has been held in offshore accounts in
Jersey.
His family refused to comment but friends confirmed that Thatcher was
seeking "category 2" status in Gibraltar. A spokesman for the
Gibraltar government said: "We do not comment publicly on the tax or
status of any individual citizen."
Simon Weil, a tax expert at lawyers Bircham Dyson Bell, said: "It is
not the Cayman Islands but Gibraltar is regarded as a respectable
offshore jurisdiction. It is competing with others to attract rich
people."
John Whiting, a senior tax partner at Price Waterhouse Coopers, the
accountants, said: "It is a pragmatic deal. If you go there you
contract to pay at least £20,000 in taxes."