ENRC advised by PwC on UK tax move
ENRC, the mining group partly-owned by the Kazakh government and listed on the FTSE, has been advised that by relocating to Switzerland it could save itself £20m a year in tax.
According to SkyNews, the group was given the advice by its auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers several months ago but the matter has not been considered at board level.
Last night ENRC issued a statement saying that it had no plans to change its current arrangements.
“ENRC routinely reviews its tax and treasury arrangements to ensure they remain efficient and appropriate for its business. ENRC has no current plans to change its existing arrangements,” it said.
In the recent past a host of businesses such as Shire, WPP and Wolseley have relocated out of the UK for tax reasons and further departures would be embarrassing for the government.
ENRC has been the subject of much controversy because of a dispute it has had with a rival group over mining assets in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Sources said the PWC plan has not been “actively discussed” and was not acted upon.