Fraud: Tax Evasion & Money Laundering - The new favourites - Inside Time Newspa...

Page 1 of 3

inside time Home | Latest Issue Headlines Mailbag Poems Book List PSI Updates | Back Issues About Subscribe Advertise Publications Site Map Contact inside information Home |Prison Visits Regimes FAQ | Support Rules Grants Glossary Library Solicitors Barristers Addresses Training Links Contact

Back

insidetime

insideinformation

Fraud: Tax Evasion & Money Laundering - The new favourites

By Aziz Rahman and Jonathan Lennon, from insidetime issue May 2008 Aziz Rahman and Jonathan Lennon highlight the increasing importance of tax fraud type offences and money laundering cases. The Fraud Act 2006 It is impossible to write an article on fraud and not mention this statute. However, for these purposes the Act is almost irrelevant. The Act abolished all the deception offences in the Theft Acts of 1968 and 1978 and created, by s1 (1), one new offence of fraud, which could be committed in three different ways. However, the Act did not repeal any of the offences which can be described as offences against the revenue; e.g. s72 of the Value Added Tax Act 1974 on VAT frauds. Tax Fraud The common law offence of cheating the public revenue is perhaps the easiest route for the Crown to take, as all the prosecution has to prove is that the Defendant made a false statement with intent to defraud the revenue; R v Hudson [1956] 2 QB 252. In fact in R v Mavji, 84 Cr. App. R 34 the Court of Appeal held that an actual act of deception is not necessary the offender in that case did not complete a VAT return or pay his VAT bill that was enough, as he was found to have (not) done so with the necessary dishonest intent. Alternatively, in respect to specifically Income Tax, Her Majestys Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has the option of the statutory offence under s144 of the Finance Act 2000 for those knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of income tax. In the end, whether the offence you are charged with is s144 of the Finance Act 2000 or the common law offence of cheating the revenue, the ultimate question will be whether there was an intent to defraud i.e. was the Defendant acting honestly or not? Typically, in any fraud case, there will be the highlights; that is key facts that the Crown concentrate on, i.e. particular invoices, particular dates and your answers to the interrogators in interview. Obviously the defence team has to identify the prosecution highlights and know them well at an early stage, but often though the answer will be in drawing the jurys attention to other aspects of the case and satisfactorily laying the groundwork for that aspects like the Defendants character or business practices, or the more technical aspects such as patterns in the invoices that tend to show a leaning towards late payment rather than nonpayment, or material which shows that you have declared monies that might have been missed or not claimed against valid receipts etc etc. Careful drafting of the Defence Statement is often critical in tax fraud cases. The fruits of your defence may lie in showing documents to the jury which tend to support your case documents which perhaps you dont even know exist. In R v Oliver [2007] EWCA, Crim 2220, the Court were concerened with a large scale VAT carousel fraud. The case was stayed as an abuse of process because of non-disclosure by HMRC. This included the fact that the schedules of unused evidence did not list substantial quantities of material that had been gathered from third parties. This assisted in one of the Defendants cases, as it showed certain trading associations which was important in the context of his defence. Money Laundering There are three main offences created by POCA which carry penalties of up to 14 years imprisonment. They are s327 concealing, disguising, converting or transferring criminal property, or removing it from the jurisdiction. Section 328; is entering into, or becoming concerned in an arrangement to facilitate the acquisition, retention, use or control by, or on behalf of another person, of criminal property knowing or suspecting that the property is criminal property. Section 329; is the offence of acquiring, using or having possession of criminal property. Issue : November 2012
Headlines | Mailbag | Poems Book List | PSI Updates

Prisons
Everything you need to know about visiting people in prison; procedures, opening times, directions etc. Comprehensive information about each prison regime; lock down times, facilities, healthcare etc.

Advert

insideinformation Book

Back Issues
The insideinformation book A comprehensive guide to prisons and prison related services, designed and compiled by former prisoners.

Advert
View backissues and extras

Browse and Search Tools

View headlines by category Search headlines | All headlines Search mailbag | All mailbag Search poems | All poems November 2012 Headlines >Fatally Flawed >Tough but intelligent >The problem with DNA >Mad but not bad >Walking for forgiveness >Should prison inspectors judge prisoners guilt >The history of public protection from offenders >Segregation your rights >Giving people a chance to take responsibility >The bird man of Doncatraz >Month by Month >In The Spotlight Fonesavvy >Prisons and Probation Ombudsmans annual report >Transfers S.I.Rs and accountability >Carved in stone >From over the wall >Gay on the Inside >Mum can you lend me twenty quid >Time for the children to speak up >Prison Widow >Can a juror be a victim too? >A word to the wise >Licence to thrill? >The Fraud Act 2006

Help and Support

Various pages of information for help and support organisations and networks for those in custody as well as recently released. Also information for friends and family.

Grants and Funding

This grants and funding pdf document aims to meet the need of prisoners and ex-offenders for accurate, up to date information on the supplementary funding available to prisoners.

Rules and Regulations

Information on rules & regulations used throughout the prison service.

Advert

About Us
About insidetime Directors Editorial Team

InsidePoetry Book
New! Volume 3 of insidepoetry book is now available! A collection of poems by prisoners of all backgrounds. Availabe to buy from this site! Volume 1 and 2 are also still available and you can SAVE by purchasing all 3 editions together!

Glossary of Terms
The Glossary of Prison Related Terms explains what all the acronyms and terms stand for with prison related matters. Includes links to external sites to further explain things.

Fact Sheets
We have produced many Prison Related Fact Sheets inc. Legal Fact Sheets, Parole Fact Sheets and Other related information.

Find a Solicitor

http://www.insidetime.org/articleview.asp?a=217& c=fraud_tax_evasion__money_lau... 06/11/2012

Fraud: Tax Evasion & Money Laundering - The new favourites - Inside Time Newspa... Page 2 of 3

Criminal Property The lynchpin of the 3 offences is the notion of criminal property. The prosecution has to prove that the property, whether it is cash, a house, a car or whatever it is, is criminal property. This is defined at s340(3) as property which represents a benefit from criminal conduct, either directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, so long as the launderer knows or suspects that the property represents such a benefit. The Crown has to show that the alleged launderer committed the relevant act (i.e. transfer, concealing etc) knowing or suspecting that the property derived from criminal conduct. The prosecution will normally attempt to prove that a Defendant knew or suspected either by prosecuting the principal offence drug trafficking etc on the same indictment, or rely on circumstantial evidence to try and prove that the money was criminal property. In R v Da Silva [2006] EWCA Crim 1654, 11/7/06 the Court of Appeal considered that suspicion meant: there is a possibility, which is more than fanciful, that the relevant facts exist. A vague feeling of unease would not suffice. Of course the circumstantial evidence which the prosecution may bring to Court can be quite damming at first sight, e.g. large sums of cash, contaminated notes, lies in interview and a lack of commercial sense in some transactions - linked possibly with connections to anyone accused or convicted of a principal offence. So rebutting inferences can be a very significant part of the job of defending. It may lead to the instruction of an expert, for example an auditor with knowledge of the particular business area in question. The expert may be able to help rebuttal by comparing the business with other like businesses in the area and/or show the existence of a reasonable audit trail to try and make the Crowns case look like no more than mere speculation. A Judge may then be persuaded that your case is suitable for the circumstantial evidence direction to the jury, whereby he or she will remind them that before they can convict on circumstantial evidence alone they have to consider whether that evidence reveals any other explanations which are or may be of sufficient reliability and strength to weaken or destroy the prosecution case so if there is another plausible explanation, that direction will strongly point towards an acquittal. A recently decided case called R v NW, SW, RC & CC [2008] EWCA Crim 2, 23/1/08 is important for Defendants in money laundering cases. In that case, the Court of Appeal confirmed that the Crown could not simply point to unexplained wealth and assert that there was no legitimate explanation and therefore it must be from the proceeds of crime - i.e. be criminal property. The Court felt that the Crown had to identify the criminal conduct or at least the category of criminal conduct alleged to have generated the money. Tax Evasion as Money Laundering In R v IK [2007] EWCA Crim 491, 8/3/07 the question for the Court was whether the proceeds of cheating the revenue could be criminal property. In a nutshell, a legitimate trader had earned legitimate money undertaking a legitimate business (a shop). However, the allegation was that not all the income was declared thus cheating the revenue. The Crown prosecuted a money laundering offence, but the trial Judge ruled that there was no criminal property the money did not come from an actual crime. Following a prosecution appeal, the Court of Appeal found that the undeclared income could in part represent the proceeds of crime, as that undeclared amount would be representative of the benefit of tax evasion. In conclusion, there can be no doubt that the State will always maintain as many possible offences as possible when it comes to offences against the revenue; the plans to scrap jury trials in certain fraud cases must be fought tooth and nail, as the bottom line is always the question of the honesty and integrity of the Defendant; and who better placed to decide that question than a properly directed jury? Aziz Rahman is a Solicitor-Advocate and Partner at the leading Criminal Defence firm Rahman Ravelli Solicitors, specialising in Human Rights, Financial Crime and Large Scale Conspiracies/Serious crime. Rahman Ravelli are members of the Specialist Fraud Panel. Jonathan Lennon is a Barrister specialising in serious and complex criminal defence cases and Prison Law at 23 Essex Street Chambers in London. He is former co-editor of the Prison Law Reports. Back to top Comments about this article There are no comments, be the first to leave one! Post a comment This article appears under the following categories... Phone Tapping/Evidence Summary of headlines for May 2008 Over half of the prison population are drug users.. Inside Time Banned From The Wings!

Advert

Subscribe
You can subscribe to insidetime Newspaper and get the paper each month delivered to your door!

Advertise
Advertise your business or solicitors office to a highly defined target audience.

Other Publications
Inside Time has produced a number of books and publications you can purchase online.

Contact Us
All contact info for the Operations office and the Editorial Team.

Site Map
Our site map page contains links to all pages on the insidetime site.

Advert

External Links
We have a number of external websites which you may be interested on our Links Page.

Social Networking
Find us on Facebook
Create an account or log in to see what your friends like.

Sign Up

Facebook social plugin

http://www.insidetime.org/articleview.asp?a=217& c=fraud_tax_evasion__money_lau... 06/11/2012

Fraud: Tax Evasion & Money Laundering - The new favourites - Inside Time Newspa... Page 3 of 3

CCRC Refers Murder Convictions to Appeal Court Court Removes Parole Another Eurovision Loser Video Games: Mental Exercise or Brain Candy? Building Its Way Out Of Trouble I Didn't Come Here To Die If It Was Left To Me - Part 1 Independence Day Postponed Month by Month Memory, make-believe and the courts - what's the mischief? Social Misfit Somebody Is Listening State Sanctioned Violence Current page: Fraud: Tax Evasion & Money Laundering - The new favourites Wars Won - But Tragically Lost Prisoner of Silence - A Short Story This Way Up Back to top
Inside Time. Home Page | Contact Inside Time Website Design and hosting by Reyaltec Fraud: Tax Evasion & Money Laundering - The new favourites

http://www.insidetime.org/articleview.asp?a=217& c=fraud_tax_evasion__money_lau... 06/11/2012