Darling challenged over Lloyds 'tax avoidance'

The chancellor would not confirm whether the government was aware of the alleged schemes before bailing out the bank, reports The Guardian. HMRC was litigating against the now 43% government-owned bank over hundreds of millions of pounds of loan transactions to other financial institutions. Raising the Lloyds allegations at question time, an MP enquired about HMRC's investigation into the bank for 'double dipping and tax avoidance via Cayman Island companies'. He asked Darling what access the government had to Lloyds' books before pumping billions of pounds of public money into the ai...