MPs have backed Osita Mba, the HMRC whistleblower who has contended that the Goldman Sachs settlement may have cost as much as £20m and argued that HMRC routinely issues press releases disclosing ‘sensitive personal details of individuals convicted of (and sometimes charged with) tax and benefit offences’.
A specific gateway was required to issue such releases lawfully, Mba said in evidence submitted to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), and HMRC applied Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 s 18(2)(a), which permits a disclosure made for the purpose of a function of HMRC so long as the disclosure does not contravene any restriction imposed by the Commissioners.
