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'Clueless' Melua speaks about tax avoidance scheme

CHART star Katie Melua has claimed she was "clueless and inexperienced" when she followed the advice of experts to sign up to what turned out to be an aggressive tax avoidance scheme.

The singer, who was educated in Belfast, was among around 1,600 people who were involved with the controversial Liberty tax strategy, but she went on to settle her tax in full with HM Revenue and Customs when it was brought to her attention.

Opening up about the furore for the first time, the former pupil at St Catherine's PS Falls Road, admitted it "sucks" that she has been under the spotlight for her part in it and called for such schemes to be stopped to prevent others from being advised by experts to take part.

Writing about the issue on her website she said: "At 19 I was lucky enough to start making money from my music career and when I was in my early twenties I trusted financial experts and advisers to guide me with how I invested money.

"I was fairly clueless and inexperienced when it came to finance goes without saying and, I'm embarrassed to admit, not as interested in it as I should have been. My focus was, and still is, totally on making music, getting on the road and performing live."

Melua came in for criticism from Christian Aid when her name emerged earlier this week after it had listed her among nominees for its "tax super hero" award four years ago.