Great article - *completely* missed the point.
The Private Eye article - which I read - whilst bandying numbers about, which may or may not have been correct, was more critical of the actions of HMRC in dealing with Vodafone. Particularly the fact that it all seemed to be settled over lunch in a gentlemans club. And that far from being viewed in anyway as improper, this appeared to be SOP for HMRCs dealings with large multinational corporations. In fact, the person who made the deal - Hartnett - went so far as to believe he had no accountability to the Public Accounts Committee when summonsed.
*That* is the real scandal.