By Tom Gordon, Scottish Political Editor From heraldscotland

NICOLA Sturgeon is facing calls to drop her tax-exile economic adviser Jim McColl in the wake of the Panama Papers furore.

Opposition parties said it was “absurd” that the Monaco-based billionaire was still a member of the First Minister’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA).

The chairman and chief executive of Clyde Blowers, reckoned to be Scotland’s richest man, made his fortune building up a global portfolio of engineering companies.

In 2014, he also rescued the ailing Ferguson Marine shipyard on the Clyde.

But despite his business prowess, McColl, 64, has been dogged by questions about tax since moving in 2001 to Monaco, where there is no income tax or capital gains tax.

In 2011, he told a Holyrood committee he did not pay full income tax in the UK, but said the wealth created by his companies eclipsed anything he might pay as a full-time UK resident.

The Sunday Herald can also reveal that the deal that made McColl’s name and fortune – the £750m sale of Clyde Union pumps in 2011- involved companies in three separate tax havens.

When McColl sold Clyde Union to US-based SPX it seemed a home-grown success.

However company and stock exchange records show Clyde Union was ultimately owned through a chain of companies stretching from Cathcart to the Cayman Islands.

The core business, Clyde Union Ltd, and its immediate parent, Clyde Union (Holdings) Ltd, were both registered in Glasgow, at the site of the former Weir Pumps group.

But Clyde Union (Holdings) Ltd was owned by McColl’s Luxembourg-registered Clyde Union Sarl, which was in turn owned by his Luxembourg-registered Clyde Union (Holdings) Sarl.

And the shares in Clyde Union (Holdings) Sarl, which were sold to SPX when it bought Clyde Union, were owned by companies in three different tax havens.

McColl’s Luxembourg-based Clyde Blowers Capital Sarl owned around 56 per cent of the shares, SCF-VI Offshore LP based in the Cayman Islands owned around 41 per cent, and Appleby Nominees (Jersey) Ltd, based in the Channel Islands, owned just over 3 per cent.

There is no suggestion that McColl has done anything illegal or improper.

However the leaked Panama Papers, showing how the super-rich can pick and choose tax, has put tax at the top of the political agenda, and renewed calls for Sturgeon to dump him.

Patrick Harvie, co-convenor of the Scottish Greens, said: “In light of the Panama Papers, the First Minister should reconsider whether taking advice from individuals who use or have connections with tax havens is appropriate.

“After years of Green pressure the First Minister rightly revoked the GlobalScot status given to Donald Trump by the former Labour-LibDem Government. It would be good to see similar judgement reached on advisors who base their tax affairs in Monaco or other tax havens.”

RISE Glasgow candidate Cat Boyd added: “Jim McColl’s tax exile in Monaco alone should disqualify him the CEA. But in the wake of the Panama Papers, and the SNP’s stern rhetoric against super-rich tax avoiders, it is absurd that someone like him should have any role developing Scottish economic policy.”

Alex Salmond appointed McColl to the CEA in 2007, and Sturgeon kept him in place after reshuffling the group last year. An advocate of ultra-low corporation tax for Scotland, McColl was the highest-profile business figure to back a Yes in the referendum.

McColl’s spokesman acknowledged a request for comment but failed to respond. An SNP spokesperson said: “Jim McColl has made a significant contribution to Scotland’s economy most recently with support for Ferguson’s. Members of the CEA come from around the world and give their time freely to support Scotland’s economy.”

IMAGE: Jim McColl

For more on this story go to: http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/political_news/14432722.Sturgeon_urged_to_drop_top_economic_adviser_based_in_tax_haven/