In two articles headlined “The secrets of tax avoiders”, The Times said Patrick McKenna of Ingenious Media was Sir Elton’s former accountant, which later proved to be incorrect, and alleged that McKenna had been involved in using film funds to dodge UK tax.
The BBC is reporting that papers filed with the High Court said the article implied Sir Elton had been advised to engage in tax avoidance.
While the paper did print a correction, Sir Elton’s lawyers described it as "wholly inadequate" and said it did not have equal prominence to the original articles, which appeared on pages one and six of the newspaper, and that it "deliberately ignored the defamatory impact" of the original article.
The Times was also forced to print a correction clarifying that McKenna and his company Ingenious Media are not and have not been involved in tax avoidance.
The correction read: “…we have been asked to make clear that the film finance partnerships arranged by Ingenious Media, whose CEO is Patrick McKenna, do not offer schemes of this type and they have not been involved in moving money offshore to avoid tax. It was not our intention to make such an allegation and we are happy to make the position clear.”
Elton John, who has worked hard as a philanthropist for many years, said the articles were potentially damaging to his fundraising activities.
