Four senior KPMG executives arrested in UK tax probe

[LONDON] Four senior executives with business consultancy KPMG have been arrested in Northern Ireland as part of a tax evasion investigation, officials said Thursday.

Tax agency officers "arrested four individuals from Northern Ireland yesterday in connection with suspected tax evasion", a spokesman told AFP.

KPMG confirmed that it had received a visit from tax officials at its offices in Belfast.

"We can confirm that representatives of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have advised us that they are conducting an investigation and visited our Belfast office yesterday (Wednesday)," the company said in a statement.

"Pending further information and enquiry, we can confirm that four partners in our Belfast office are on administrative leave," it added.

Finance Minister George Osborne has promised to crack down on tax cheats and announced on Wednesday that an extra £800 million (S$1.7 billion) would be invested in the fight against evasion.

AFP