Chancellor challenges Barclays' claims on tax dodge

In a letter written to Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, the Chancellor, George Osborne, has publicly questioned the veracity of Barclays' explanation of its now notorious £300m tax dodge.During his testimony to parliament this past spring Barclays' then chief executive, Bob Diamond, testified that he had been advised that other companies had created similar schemes with no objection from HMRC and that there was a clear precedent that the spirit of the law had not been breached, The Times reports. Mr.Osborne, however, does not share that assessment. "HMRC has not been able to identify any arrangements similar to those put in place by Barclays, nor has any tax adviser or other company identified any such arrangements and HMRC would challenge anything that came to light," he has written to Mr.Tyrie.A Barclays source played down the Osborne letter, saying: "We expressed our perception. The Chancellor's given his. It's history. We've moved on," the newspaper adds. AB