Katie Melua admits being 'clueless' about tax avoidance scheme

The singer Katie Melua has described herself as being "clueless and inexperienced" in financial affairs at the time she got involved in a billion-pound tax avoidance scheme.

In a statement on her website after it emerged that she was one of a number of well-known names who were part of the Liberty tax scheme, she said it was presented to her by financial advisers in 2008 as "legal and legit".

The charity Christian Aid, which nominated her for their Tax Superhero award four years ago, described her as a "fallen hero" after it came out that she had been involved in the controversial plan.

"From what I can remember in 2008 when the Liberty scheme was presented to me it was not presented as 'an aggressive tax avoidance scheme'. It was presented as an 'investment scheme' that had the potential to legally reduce yearly income tax," her statement says. It is alleged that the singer invested £850,000 in the scheme.

"Totally legal and legit and my accountants and advisers would take care to complete the formalities which included dealing with HMRC. Seemed pretty straight-forward and simple, so I signed up."

It was revealed this week that 1,600 investors – including celebrities, business people and legal professionals – were part of the £1.2bn tax avoidance bid through Liberty.

In her statement, she says her tax records are up to date and that she does not owe any money.

"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. That 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," she wrote.

She went on to praise the journalists who uncovered the details about the controversial scheme.

"Yeah, it sucks getting this type of attention, but I commend the investigative journalism that is allowed in Britain. If there is ambiguity in the law then laws should be changed to disallow schemes like this, so that they would never be presented by legitimate tax experts to less experienced people like myself in the first place. Hopefully the debate will lead to positive change for all," she said.

George Michael, Gary Barlow and the four current members of Arctic Monkeys are among those said to have invested in the Liberty tax strategy, alongside Anne Robinson, Michael Caine and Paul Nicholson, a loan shark jailed indefinitely in 2009 for raping a client, and blackmailing and assaulting others.