Call for inquiry into loan of £30m to Zahawi firm

Call for ethics adviser to look into £30m loan to Zahawi's wife's company

- Simon Goodley

Nadhim Zahawi is under new pressure to reveal the source of about £30m of unsecured loans made to his wife’s UK property company.

The loans were used to finance parts of a large UK property portfolio, reported last year as worth about £100m, and were declared in company accounts that span a period from 2017 to 2021 but give no information about who the lenders are.

The calls are the latest to the former chancellor, now chair of the Conservative party, to explain how his family's fortune has been managed, after a mounting controversy over his tax affairs prompted the prime minister to launch an ethics investigation.

Accounts show just under £30m was provided as unsecured loans to a company called Zahawi & Zahawi, which paid £60m for a property portfolio that includes commercial and retail premises in London, Birmingham, Brighton and Walton-on-Thames in Surrey.

Zahawi & Zahawi was formed in 2010 when it was owned jointly by the MP and his wife, Lana Saib, before he transferred his 50% shareholding to her when he became a junior minister in January 2018.

Zahawi, whose tax affairs have been referred to the independent adviser on ministerial standards, said he was confident he had acted properly throughout, adding: "In order to ensure the independence of this process, you will understand that it would be inappropriate to discuss this issue any further, as I continue my duties as chairman of the Conservative and Unionist party."