A Conservative Party treasurer has hit back at a suggestion by Labour leader Ed Miliband that he was involved in "tax avoidance activities".
During Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Miliband accused Lord Fink of seeking to avoid paying taxes by holding a Swiss bank account.
But the Tory peer has written a letter to the Labour chief, saying the claim was "untrue and defamatory".
He challenged Mr Miliband to repeat the allegation outside the Commons, where he would not be protected from legal action by parliamentary privilege, or withdraw it publicly.
Meanwhile, the man who lifted the lid on the HSBC tax scandal has told Sky News he first raised concerns about suspect practices at the bank in 2008 - two years earlier than previously thought.
In an exclusive interview, Herve Falciani said he emailed and called Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs seven years ago.
The claims came as David Cameron was challenged to reveal whether he discussed tax evasion at HSBC with Lord Green, the bank's former boss who was subsequently appointed a Tory minister.
There were fierce clashes at PMQs amid revelations that wealthy donors to political parties were among those who legally held accounts with HSBC's private Swiss bank.
Mr Miliband said Mr Cameron was a "dodgy prime minister" who was "up to his neck" in the HSBC tax avoidance scandal - but the PM hit back, claiming his rival had relied on trade union cash to win the Labour leadership.
The Guardian has published a list of nine Conservative donors who it said were listed in files relating to clients of HSBC's Swiss subsidiary.
The newspaper stated that the accounts were held legally for a wide variety of reasons, and made no allegation of wrongdoing against those listed.
Mr Miliband told the Commons that on the list was Lord Fink, who gave £3m to the Conservatives and was appointed party treasurer and given a peerage by Mr Cameron.
Lord Fink said he had a Swiss bank account because he was working for the Man Group in the country for four years from 1996 to 2000.
"During this time I had need of a local bank account to do simple things like receive my Swiss franc salary and pay grocery bills," he said.
"As I already banked with HSBC in London, I set up an account with HSBC. I subsequently set up an account with Credit Suisse as they had a branch much closer to my home and office.
"I submitted tax returns in both Switzerland and Britain showing my revised tax status, which was accepted by the Inland Revenue.
"The only way I have ever sought to depress my income tax liability is by giving a lot of my income to charity."
Mr Miliband claimed that the PM must have talked to Lord Green about HSBC as a coalition minister issued a press release in 2011 referring to the investigation into HSBC's Geneva account holders.
The Opposition leader said: "Do you expect us to believe that in Stephen Green's three years as a minister you never had a conversation with him about what was happening at HSBC?"
Mr Cameron said the Tories had a far better record than Labour on tax avoidance - introducing measures to stop hedge funds dodging levies, make foreigners pay stamp duty and tax all bank profits.
Labour MP Sharon Hodgson asked Mr Cameron directly whether he had conversations about HSBC tax avoidance with Lord Green, adding: "If not, why not?"
The Prime Minister said "every proper process was followed" when Lord Green was made a minister in 2011.
He said: "I consulted the Cabinet Secretary, I consulted the director for propriety and ethics, and of course the House of Lords appointments commission now looks at someone's individual tax affairs before giving them a peerage.
"I made the appointment, it was welcomed by Labour, and three years later they were still holding meetings with him."
Mr Cameron pointed out that Lord Green was the head of Labour PM Gordon Brown's business advisory council and was invited on a trade mission by the party in 2013 - three years after the HSBC revelations first surfaced.
During PMQs, Mr Miliband said: "You gave a job to the head of HSBC and you let the tax avoiders get away with it.
"There's something rotten at the heart of the Conservative Party and it's you."
Mr Cameron replied: "For 13 years they sat in the Treasury, they did nothing about tax transparency, nothing about tax dodging, nothing about tax avoidance.
"This government has been tougher than any previous government. That's why they are desperate, that's why they are losing."
The PM pointed out that Labour donor Lord Paul was also caught up in the revelations.
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