Kidd pal faces trial in US on '£1.3m tax theft'

Finance chief for star's dad 'siphoned £4m from firm'

- By Lee Sorrell and Richard Ashmore

A BUSINESSMAN faces extradition to the US to stand trial for evading tax on £4million he is alleged to have "secretly" siphoned from an energy firm he was running with former showjumper Johnny Kidd.

Paul Devine faces five counts of tax evasion while a senior executive at NordAq Energy, a gas and oil exploration business in Alaska.

The 73-year-old cheated the US tax authorities out of more than £1.26million, prosecutors claim, after failing to declare around 200 self-payments of nearly £4.3million in total between 2011 and 2015.

At the time, the founder and chairman of NordAq was Mr Kidd, father of former supermodel and TV personality Jodie Kidd, 47.

'I was entitled to the money'

The 80-year-old is said to be the inspiration for womaniser Rupert Campbell-Black in racy novel Riders by the late Dame Jilly Cooper.

He hired his longtime friend Devine as NordAq’s chief financial officer in 2011. He later joined the board and became chief executive.