EU orders UK to recover illegal state aid to multinationals: statement

BRUSSELS: The EU's powerful anti-trust authority on Tuesday said a tax break from Britain for unnamed multinationals was illegal under state aid rules, firing a shot at London amid Brexit chaos.

The European Commission gave no indication of the amount of money to be recovered nor the companies involved, but said the tax break "unduly exempted certain multinational groups" from UK anti-tax avoidance rules.

"This is illegal under EU State aid rules. The UK must now recover the undue tax benefits," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.