The most powerful members of society are able to escape prosecution for financial crimes, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has admitted.

The non-ministerial department of the UK Government responsible for the collection of taxes released this information for the first time at an economic crime conference in Cambridge last week.

During the conference a senior government official admitted that the tax authorities settled the debts of celebrities and the rich privately to avoid the embarrassment of a public trial.

The HMRC revealed for the first time that the tax authorities accommodated celebrities' concerns and settled debts privately to avoid the embarrassment of a public trial

Richard Las, the deputy director of HMRC in charge of organised crime, admitted the 'very wealthy and prominent members of the community' feared the 'reputational damage' a criminal trial would bring.

He told The Times: 'When deciding whether to deploy our resources, we try to understand what motivates different types of offenders.

'For example, some tax offenders are very wealthy, prominent members of the community.

'We know that these types of people do not want the reputational damage of custodial sentences, and we can use that to our advantage.'

In spite of this, the department continues to prosecute others who evade the law, thereby raising concerns about their conduct.

Meg Hillier (above), who chairs the Commons public accounts committee: 'Just because you have highly paid tax advisers, you must not be seen to be getting away with it'

This comes amid the criticism that has been fired against the organisation for its failure to prosecute high-profile people with financial interests in offshore tax havens.

Meg Hillier, who chairs the Commons public accounts committee, said: 'Just because you have highly paid tax advisers, you must not be seen to be getting away with it.'

The revelation follows a series of blunders whereby the organisation has come under scrutiny, sparking fear about equality under the law.

In 2016 the panama papers, revealing the ways in which the rich were able to exploit secretive offshore tax regimes, led to four arrests and six interviews under caution by HMRC.

Earlier this year, it also emerged that HMRC had refused to assist a French organisation into suspected money-laundering and tax fraud by the UK telecoms giant Lycamobile because the company was one of the biggest corporate donor's of the Conservative Party.

In the past online business giants such as Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook have also come under scrutiny after it was revealed they funnelled their European sales through countries including Ireland and Luxembourg where they were offered lower corporation tax rates.