Mr Miskin is among hundreds of UK individuals named in bank documents that were stolen and subsequently sold to tax authorities by an employee of LGT, the Liechtenstein bank. The data is now being used to investigate people accused of hiding their assets in the tiny Alpine state.

When contacted by WealthBriefing, HM Revenue & Customs, the UK's tax authority, said it had not released the name of Mr Miskin and it was not its policy to do so during such investigations.

The Sunday Times said Mr Miskin built up a fortune during the 1980s through Waterglade International, a property firm that specialised in building shopping arcades.

When the company floated in London in 1987, Mr Miskin became a multi-millionaire and soon afterwards left the company. Waterglade went into receivership in 1994 owing almost £30 million, including an estimated £800,000 in VAT.

LGT documents made public in a US Senate investigation into tax havens show that Mr Miskin used the bank to hide assets from his wife Stephanie during divorce proceedings five years ago.

At one stage Mr Miskin had $6 million in LGT bank accounts. The retired businessman still owes his ex-wife a divorce settlement of £3 million.

Although the whereabouts of Mr Miskin are unknown,  he has recently claimed in documents still to be a UK citizen. Over the past 15 years he has lived in California and Mexico and, according to some sources, may be living in Costa Rica, the newspaper said.

Mr Miskin is just the first of hundreds of Britons who could be prosecuted using the data bought from Heinrich Kieber, the Liechtenstein informant.