By David Leask, Chief Reporter From Evening Times UK

Glasgow Airport is half owned in a tax haven.

The hub – once owned by the city council and then UK government – was sold up two years ago.

Now the Evening Times can reveal that a 50 per cent of the firm that bought the business is registered in the offshore jurisdiction of Jersey.

The airport’s owners insist this company, which also owns half of Aberdeen Airport, is registered for UK tax.

But there remains huge controversy over the owning of British or Scottish businesses through holding firms in secretive tax havens.

The Evening Times can also reveal that Edinburgh Airport, Glasgow’s main rival, is wholly owned in another offshore haven, the Cayman Islands.

Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports, all of which used to be part of the privatised and then broken-up British Airports Authority or BAA, argue that it is “not uncommon” for infrastructure assets to be owned through so-called fiscal paradises like Jersey or the Caymans.

However, former Prime Minister David Cameron has previously urged more openness in both the Cayman Islands and Jersey as he came under pressure from EU and G8 partners to close loopholes in territories linked to Britain.

MSP Andy Wightman, who represents Lothians for the Scottish Greens, raised concerns over what he saw as the opaque ownership of Edinburgh Airport.

He said: “Since privatisation in the 1980s and the break-up of British Airports Authority, Edinburgh Airport is now controlled by entities in secrecy jurisdictions from Grand Cayman to Delaware.

IMAGE: Now the Evening Times can reveal that a 50 per cent of the firm that bought the business is registered in the offshore jurisdiction of Jersey.

For more on this story go to: http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/14627275.Glasgow_airport_is_uncovered_as_half_owned_in_tax_haven/