UK premier sacks Conservative chief Zahawi over tax affairs

LONDON

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday fired Nadhim Zahawi as the chairman of the Conservative Party after an ethics probe into his tax affairs.

Sunak said an investigation by his independent ethics adviser, Laurie Magnus, found that “it is clear that there has been a serious breach of the ministerial code.”

“As a result, I have informed you of my decision to remove you from your position in His Majesty’s Government,” he said in a letter to Zahawi published on Sunday.

Zahawi had been under mounting pressure to resign after it emerged that he paid a penalty over unpaid taxes in a multimillion-pound dispute while he was chancellor last year.

The dispute was related to the polling company YouGov that Zahawi co-established in 2000 before he became a member of parliament, according to local media reports.