Chris Moyles has been exposed as a member of a tax avoidance scheme.
According to The Times, the former Radio 1 DJ originally asked the court to grant him anonymity because he felt his human rights would be "infringed" and his career damaged.
Moyles, who apparently made around £500,000 a year from his Radio 1 job, had is case dismissed by Judge Colin Bishopp, who sited "obvious public interest" in disproving "that riches or fame can buy anonymity". Summarising Moyles' argument in a preliminary hearing, Bishopp said: "If it were to become public knowledge that he availed himself of a tax avoidance scheme, his career might be damaged and his earning capacity reduced. "He is already the focus of media interest for other reasons, much of it hostile." However, Judge Bishopp ruled: "The fact that a taxpayer is rich, or that he is in the public eye, does not seem to me to dictate a different approach. "On the contrary, it may be that hearing the appeal of such a person in private would give rise to the suspicion that riches or fame can buy anonymity, and protection from the scrutiny which others cannot avoid."
Bishopp kept Moyles' identity hidden to give him time to appeal, referring to him simply as Mr A.
Moyles is still under contract with the BBC. A spokesperson for the broadcasting house said that the 'aggressive tax avoidance' on his BBC income would "very likely" be seen as an infringement.
Comedian Jimmy Carr was exposed to have been sheltering £3.3million in a Jersey-based avoidance scheme, with which he paid as little as 1 per cent in tax.
He apologised for his involvement in the scheme, saying that he made "a terrible error of judgement".
SOURCE: THE TIMES
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