Our former Chancellor, it would seem, is only able to say that he has paid his taxes in full, because he realised the gig was up, he'd been caught and went to HMRC to sort it out.
And the reason it hasn't been a bigger story is that the litigious Mr Zahawi hired a firm of lawyers to send off threatening letters to anyone investigating, stating, untruthfully, that these letters had to remain confidential.
Calculations suggest that if he had to pay £3.7 million in back-taxes, this would imply £27 million in undeclared income, representing about a 1/4 of his net worth. This, therefore, is not small change, or a tiny oversight.
The timeline of events is worth reading, here www.taxpolicy.org.uk/2023/01/19/zahawi_story/
Not sure what the fine is for not wearing a seatbelt, but Zahawi had to pay a 30% penalty on his unpaid taxes, meaning that his claims that his taxes were filed and paid correctly is untrue.
He was Chancellor of the Exchequer while this was going on.
No wonder he was so supportive of Boris, going as far as to say teachers should remain impartial when discussing lawbreaking politicians
www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4480290-Teachers-should-remain-impartial-on-matters-of-lawbreaking-by-politicians-says-Zahawi
Of course whether his tax-dodging is illegal depends on whether it counts as tax avoidance or tax evasion. No idea on that front, given how easily the rich seem to get away with this stuff.