Hamilton Senior under investigation
Stevenage, Friday: Anthony Hamilton, the father of reigning Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton, is under investigation by the Inland Revenue for an alleged ten-year tax-evading scheme that apparently helped fund his son’s motorsport career.
Dodgy: Anthony Hamilton with son Lewis
Hamilton, Sr. has claimed on several occasions that he worked three simultaneous jobs in order to pay for the huge expenses of Lewis’ competitions, sometimes even working for thirty-six hours at a stretch. However, the taxman has been unable to find records of this period of multiple employment, prompting speculation that Hamilton did not declare details of his second and third jobs so as to avoid paying taxes.
“We’d be quite interested to have a chat with Mr. Hamilton,” said a spokesman for the Inland Revenue today. “The amount of money he saved by not paying the taxes he owed on his multiple jobs must have been huge, given that he managed to pay for race seats in Formula Renault, Formula Three and GP2. Our estimate is that, when we factor in the unpaid taxes, fines and interest, Anthony owes us somewhere in the region of fifteen million quid.”
McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh, employer of Lewis Hamilton, was surprised at today’s announcement: “To my knowledge Anthony never worked any extra jobs,” he said. “The funding for Lewis’ career was arranged by me, and Lewis’ family had barely any input.” Anthony Hamilton has yet to comment on the affair, although a retraction of his previous statements seems likely now that the taxman has got involved.
