Gary Barlow has apologised for allegations that he avoided tax and pledged to settle his affairs ASAP. The singer and his Take That band-mates Howard Donald and Mark Owen - along with manager Jonathan Wild - reportedly invested £66 million in Icebreaker partnerships, presented as schemes for music industry investment.

Gary BarlowGary Barlow has apologised for allegations of tax avoidance

In May, a judge ruled that the initiative was a tax-avoidance scheme and HM Revenue & Customs is expected to demand repayment. In July, allegations emerged that Barlow had been avoiding taxes through an investment scheme called Liberty. Michael Caine, Katie Melua and Anne Robinson were also linked to the Leeds-based tax strategy, which allegedly sheltered $1.2 billion from tax.

Some called for Barlow to be stripped of his OBE though Prime Minister David Cameron rejected this, telling Good Morning Britain, "Gary Barlow has done a huge amount for the country, he has raised money for charity, he has done very well for Children in Need, so I'm not sure. The OBE is in respect of that work and what he has done."

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Now, Barlow has taken to Twitter to address the claims for the first time. In a series of tweets, the musician apologised for his involvement and vowed to clean up his finances.

"I want to apologise to anyone who was offended by the tax stories earlier this year," he said, "With a new team of accountants we are working to settle things with all parties involved ASAP."

"We have been working since the new year on a new Take That studio album," he added, once the tax stuff was out of the way.

"We are extremely excited about it ! It has been 4 long years since the last one."

Take That's sixth studio album Progress featured the return of Robbie Williams. As of June 2011, it had sold 2.8 million copies in the UK alone. 

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