Michael James Shanly (born December 1945) is a British multimillionaire businessman. He is the founder of the Shanly Group, a housebuilder and commercial property investment firm. He was the only Briton to be "publicly identified" for failing to declare taxes on his Swiss bank account.Swiss Leaks.^[1][2]

Michael James Shanly was born in December 1945. He was born in High Wycombe.^[3] He lives at Hurley, Berkshire.^[4]

Shanly founded the Shanly Group, a property company headquartered in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire in 1969.^[5][6] Its commercial property subsidiary, Sorbon Estates, has invested in market towns including Amersham, Marlow, Maidenhead, Windsor, Berkhamsted and Weybridge.^[7][8] Michael Shanly is a founder member of The Partnership for the Rejuvenation of Maidenhead (PRoM)^[4] a group established in 2008 with a desire to regenerate the town centre.^[9][10] As part of this, Shanly Homes has created Chapel Arches, a three phase scheme off the High Street which will provide 242 new homes across more than three acres, linking with the Maidenhead Waterways project.^[11]

Overall, Shanly is the owner of nine companies.^[12]

According to the Sunday Times Rich List, Shanly was worth an estimated GBP£265 million in 2014.^[12] As of 2015, he is worth an estimated GBP£320 million.^[12] In 2012, he was found guilty of tax evasion on his mother's inheritance via a Swiss bank account.^[13] He was fined GBP£469,444 for it.^[13] He was the only Briton to be "publicly identified" for failing to declare taxes on his Swiss bank account prior to Swiss Leaks.^[2] This money had already been donated to a children's charity in 2008.^[13]

In 2015, Michael Shanly was ranked 122nd in Britain's top 200 donors.^[14]

In 2017, the Shanly Foundation teamed up with The Scout Association to launch a Building Futures competition to improve meeting places for Scout Groups. Offering 12 prizes ranging from £5,000-£100,000 this was the Foundation's biggest donation to date.^[15] The Woodhouse Eaves Scout Group in Loughborough was announced as the main winner and was awarded £100,000 to build a new Scout hut. Michael Shanly himself is a former Scout.^[16]

The Shanly Foundation has also had a long-standing partnership with The Woodland Trust since 2010. The Shanly Foundation has helped raise more than £350,000 and funded the planting of more than 20,000 trees specifically in the Heartwood Forest, Hertfordshire.^[17]