Tax loopholes uncovered by The Times will be investigated by Parliament, the chairman of the powerful House of Commons Public Accounts Committee will reveal today. Abuses uncovered by a series of articles looking into income tax avoidance “wouldn’t look out of place in a banana republic”, says Margaret Hodge. Writing in this newspaper today, she confirms her committee will demand to know what work the taxman is doing to identify rogue methods and how accountants circumvent the system. Officials from Revenue & Customs face being hauled before MPs to explain what action they are taking, after revelations that thousands of wealthy people in Britain are able to pay as little as 1 per cent income tax using aggressive financial schemes. Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said yesterday that cutting Britain’s £35 billion “tax gap” by just a quarter would fund a 2p cut for all basic-rate taxpayers. In her article, Ms Hodge proposes an overhaul of the Revenue and calls for large companies to be forced to publish details of the deals they make with the taxman. “In 2009-10, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs calculated the tax gap as £35 billion — that is nearly 8 per cent of all tax due not being collected,” she writes. “In the same year, HMRC wrote off £10.9 billion in tax as uncollectable.” She warns that thousands of people employed in the public sector are still exploiting a loophole that allows t

Egypt ushered in a new chapter in its history last night as an Islamist who only 18 months ago was a prisoner of the regime was declared the nation’s first post-revolution President. As the news broke on Tahrir Square, where hundreds of thousands of people had gathered to celebrate Mohammed al-Morsi’s victory, there were scenes of jubilation. The mood was reminiscent of the night in February last year when Hosni Mubarak stepped down after 18 days of protest. Cheering the win by the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, men cried “Morsi, Morsi, God is greatest” and fell to their knees in prayer. Demonstrators who had stood in 40C (104F) heat for hours hugged each other, tears on their cheeks, as activists sprayed jasmine-scented water to cool them off. “Revolution, one; Mubarak, zero,” beamed Mohammed Hazen, 23, a geologist who had been on the square during the

A lawyer arrested for defending Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has smuggled a letter out of prison describing the torture he is suffering and begging the world for help. “A thousand times a day I wish I was dead, but the prison officials and the intelligence ministry want me to die slowly,” Houtan Kian wrote. “I appeal to the conscience of the world not to forget me.” Mr Kian, 33, took on Ms Ashtiani’s case after her first lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, was forced to flee Iran. He was arrested in October 2010 and locked up in Tabriz prison for undermining national security and spreading propaganda. In a letter smuggled out in March 2011, he described having his feet and testicles burned with cigarettes, his teeth knocked out in beatings, and being soaked with fire hoses on freezing nights. In a second letter smuggled out this month, he says he has suffered 2