10:47
Tieng Anh Vui
UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage has said he made a mistake in setting up a trust fund in the Isle of Man, regarded as an offshore tax haven.
The MEP paid a tax advisor to open the fund, intended for family purposes, but insisted he had not gained financially from it and it had been wound up.
Tax avoidance is not illegal but a crackdown is under way on the practice.
Mr Farage told the Mirror the "world had changed" and what was seen as acceptable in the past was not anymore.
The Mirror reported that Mr Farage had set up the Farage Family Education Trust 1654 in Douglas, the Isle of Man capital.
The Isle of Man was one of the UK's crown dependencies which signed an agreement on corporate disclosure at a recent meeting with David Cameron amid claims that individuals and firms are using offshore locations to reduce their tax liabilities.
The Isle of Man and other dependencies reject suggestions they are used for the purpose.
'My fault'
Mr Farage told the newspaper that he had set up the trust "on behalf of somebody else".
He said he had been advised to make the arrangement for "inheritance purposes", on the basis that it could be used to pay for things such as schools fees for grandchildren.
"I took the advice and I set it up," he said. "It was a mistake. I was a completely unsuitable person for it. I am not blaming them. It was my fault.
"It was a mistake for three reasons. Firstly, I am not rich enough to need one and I am never going to be. Secondly, frankly the world has changed. Things that we thought were absolutely fair practice 10 years, 20 years, 30 years ago aren't anymore.
"Thirdly, it was a mistake because it cost me money. I sent a cheque to set it up."
The MEP said the money "disappeared" into administration fees and the fund was closed by 2008.
Mr Farage worked as a commodities broker before entering politics in the 1990s and becoming an MEP in 1999.
The Mirror said Companies House documents indicated that the fund was a shareholder in Farage Ltd - a financial firm owned by his brother Andrew in which the UKIP leader also once had a stake - until 2011.
The MEP insists he never received any dividends from the firm, which had been paid solely to his brother, and had transferred his shareholding in the company to the trust fund.
Andrew Farage told the newspaper that he had paid tax on all the dividends in question in the UK.
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