Head of stock exchange under fire after share sell-off that could save her £400,000 in tax

The head of the London Stock Exchange came under fire yesterday for a shares sell-off that could save her £400,000 in tax.

Clara Furse, 50, one of the City's highest-paid women, transferred £5.1million of shares on the eve of changes to capital gains tax.

By transferring her shares in the Stock Exchange to her husband, she will pay 10 per cent tax on them - instead of 18 per cent after next Monday.

City experts said it meant Canadian-born Mrs Furse, whose salary is close to £2.3million, might pay a tax bill of £510,000 on their future sale as opposed to £918,000 - a saving of £408,000.

In future she will pay only 18 per cent on any increase in the shares' value because she has "locked in" the tax on the initial £5.1million.

Her move came as billionaire Labour donor Lord Sainsbury was called a hypocrite for selling £340million of his own shares to save £27million in tax.

Their actions are particularly embarrassing for Gordon Brown as the Prime Minister introduced the CGT reforms - unveiled in the Pre-Budget Report last October - to ensure businessmen paid a fair share.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said they had used a "clever dodge" to avoid paying more tax.

He said: "Their actions have exposed the failure of an overcomplicated, unfair system of capital gains tax which clever businessmen with expensive lawyers have been able to avoid."

Lord Sainsbury sold his shares in Sainsbury's to a firm he owns on Monday evening.

Experts said the move means he would pay only £34million in tax on the sale as opposed to £61.2million if he sold next week - a saving of £27million.

Lord Sainsbury says the money will be donated to charity.

But critics described his actions as a "tax dodge" and tens of thousands of businessmen are believed to have been making similar changes.

Maurice Fitzpatrick, tax expert at accountants Grant Thornton, said: "Thanks to the botched way the CGT changes have been introduced, many business owners are deciding to make similar last-minute decisions."