By Holly Watt From The Guardian UK

Book by Craig Oliver says Downing Street did not disclose investment after deciding: ‘We think it’s fine, but what if it’s not?’

Downing Street officials were alarmed to discover that David Cameron had a holding in a Vietnamese investment fund registered in the Cayman Islands at the height of the Panama Papers revelations, according to a book by his former director of communications.

Sir Craig Oliver became aware that the then prime minister had previously invested “in something called the Vietnamese Enterprise Fund” following the Guardian’s investigation into the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The information was not released to the media at the time, after Oliver and his team decided: “We think it’s fine, but what if it’s not?”

The Vietnam Enterprise Fund is run by Dragon Capital in Vietnam, but registered in the Cayman Islands. Dominic Scriven, the chief executive of Dragon Capital, confirmed that Cameron had previously invested in the fund, and believed his father, Ian Cameron, had decided to invest the money.

In his book Unleashing Demons, Oliver said the Downing Street office uncovered Cameron’s investment in the fund following the release of the Panama Papers by the Guardian, working with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The papers revealed that Ian Cameron helped found an offshore fund called Blairmore Holdings. His son was forced into a series of embarrassing disclosures over several days, including the fact that he had personally owned shares in Blairmore.

Cameron was photographed with Scriven during a visit to Vietnam in July 2015. At the time, Dragon Capital’s website said: “Dominic Scriven OBE, CEO of Dragon Capital, attended lunch with the prime minister and also accompanied him to the stock exchange and other important meetings.”

In an attempt to control the story in April, Downing Street brought in a series of experts to try to make sense of Blairmore’s tax affairs, Oliver’s book said. They also carried out an analysis of Cameron’s personal tax arrangements and it was during this that the Vietnam Enterprise Fund investment emerged.

Oliver wrote: “A few of us gather round the table in my office and begin the process of working out the release of the PM’s tax returns. The fact is that we’re utter novices in this world.”

They then discovered the investment. Oliver wrote: “We’re told it’s perfectly legitimate, but will the lobby see it that way? We think it’s fine, but what if it’s not?”

It is not clear why Oliver included the information in his book. He declined to comment.

At the time, Cameron was facing one of the worst crises of his premiership, with Oliver acknowledging that at one point, he thought the then prime minister might have to resign over the Panama Papers.

Oliver wrote that Cameron and his wife, Samantha, had “an unhappy couple of hours in calls” with their accountant, before putting out a statement saying that the “prime minister, his wife and their children do not benefit from any offshore funds”.

For more on this story go to: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/oct/23/david-cameron-adviser-craig-oliver-no-10-alarm-holding-offshore-fund-cayman-islands

IMAGE: David Cameron Wikipedia