The owners of Asda and EG Group have denied setting up companies in Jersey for tax purposes, as MPs probe their complex business empire.
Mohsin and Zuber Issa, who also own Leon, and recently sold 218 KFC sites, are facing growing questions from MPs, with the former accused of having misled Parliament by submitting inaccurate evidence.
In a letter to Labour’s Liam Byrne, who chairs the business and trade committee, Mohsin blamed an administrative error for reporting some companies are based in Jersey rather than England and Wales.
He said: “We would like to take this opportunity to confirm that no companies in the Asda ownership structure are incorporated in jurisdictions outside of England and Wales due to any ‘tax haven’ status.
“We can further confirm that all of the companies are UK tax residents regardless of where they are incorporated, they each file UK corporation tax returns and pay UK corporation tax on profits in accordance with UK tax legislation.”
He added: “We do not believe that this error amounted to us having misled the committee.”
His comments come as MPs probe for information about the brothers’ businesses, such as the debt-fuelled buyout of Asda, which was backed by TDR Capital.
In a letter sent to Mr Issa earlier this month, Mr Byrne wrote: “The committee remains concerned about the complexity of the company structure within which Asda sits and is anxious to establish whether there are any further inaccuracies in the information that you have provided.”
Higher interest rates have put pressure on indebted businesses over the last year, including EG Group, which has been selling off assets to pay down debts.
In October, Asda completed the £2bn acquisition of EG Group’s UK business, which it said would enable it to cut prices.
