Corre Energy director quits amid UK tax allegations

A director and largest shareholder in Corre Energy, the Dublin-listed green energy storage developer, has stepped down from his role after being linked by UK revenue officials to a tax avoidance scheme.

Darren Patrick-Green, who had been president and an executive director of Corre Energy from before its flotation on the stock market in September 2021, has advised the board of his intention to step down with immediate effect, the Irish-run company said in a statement on Thursday evening.

“Mr Green’s decision relates to an announcement by HMRC (His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs) concerning a business of which he is the ultimate beneficial owner with no executive role and is unrelated to the activities of Corre Energy,” it said.

A company controlled by Mr Patrick-Green owns about 38 per cent of Corre Energy.

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HMRC earlier on Thursday linked Mr Patrick-Green to a complex tax avoidance scheme that moves income offshore and warned anyone who has joined the arrangement to get out of it as soon as possible.

“The scheme – linked to businessman Darren Patrick-Green – involves contractors joining Singapore-registered Procorre LLP to avoid paying income tax and national insurance,” the tax authority said.

These workers and their personal service companies (PSCs) enter into contracts to provide services to their clients as usual. The PSCs invoice these clients and transfer the money received to Procorre LLP.

Procorre LLP then deducts a fee before returning the rest of the income to the individuals or their PSCs.

Mr Patrick-Green owns Procorre LLP through a Swiss-based firm called Corre Holdings SA.

“Tax avoidance schemes are cynically marketed as clever ways to pay less tax. The truth is they rarely work in the way the promoters claim and it is the users that can end up with unexpected tax bills,” said Jonathan Smith, HMRC’s director of counter avoidance.

“We would urge anyone who thinks they have entered these schemes to contact us as soon as possible to get help.”

Corre Energy said this week it is now the largest developer of energy storage in Europe after the publication of the latest EU-wide plan.

With 100 GWh of compressed air energy storage under development, Corre Energy’s projects represent about 20 per cent of the total capacity of planned large-scale energy storage projects in Europe over the next decade.

Corre concentrates on the development, construction and future operation of grid-scale underground renewable energy storage facilities, as well as the production and sale of green hydrogen.

It has projects in the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany.

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