#HMRC Account Freezing Orders

[lexlawuk]

IR35 Tax Appeals: Gary Lineker's Off-Payroll Working Dispute with HMRC

What Is IR35, and How Does It Relate to Gary Lineker? IR35, the UK’s off-payroll working legislation, is designed to prevent tax avoidance by individuals who provide services through intermediaries, such as Personal Service Companies (PSCs), but work in a manner similar to employees. This legislation ensures that such workers pay the appropriate income tax and National Insurance…

[thxnews]

Environment Agency Cracks Down on Waste Crime

Tackling Waste Money Laundering

The Environment Agency's recent unveiling of the Economic Crime Unit marks a significant leap forward in the battle against financial offences within the waste sector. This innovative approach aims to dismantle the lucrative operations of organized crime in waste management, ensuring that illegal activities do not yield financial benefits.   The Genesis of the Economic Crime Unit The Economic Crime Unit will intensify its efforts against money laundering and financial crimes in waste management, deriving its strength from the successful endeavors of the Environment Agency Financial Investigations Team. The unit has an enhanced team that includes Accredited Financial Investigators, Financial Intelligence Officers, and a dedicated Financial Crime Analyst, making it well-equipped to tackle the sophisticated networks of waste crime.   The Structure and Strategy Asset Denial Team: Specializing in freezing illegal assets, this team is the frontline in stripping criminals of their ill-gotten gains. By employing strategies like account freezing orders and cash seizures, they ensure that the proceeds of waste crime are inaccessible to offenders, significantly impacting their operations. Money Laundering Investigations Team: This team's focus on investigating money laundering activities specifically linked to environmental offences brings a new level of scrutiny to financial crimes in the sector. With the authority to pursue severe penalties, including long-term imprisonment, their work is a testament to the seriousness with which these crimes are now regarded.  

Support from Industry and Government

The establishment of the Economic Crime Unit has received commendation and support from various sectors, highlighting the collective determination to eradicate waste crime. Statements from Alan Lovell, Chair of the Environment Agency, and Robbie Moore, Environment Minister, underscore the economic and environmental devastation wrought by these crimes. Jacob Hayler of the Environmental Services Association said: From fly-tipping to landfill tax evasion, waste crime is fundamentally a financial crime predicated on avoiding the cost of proper waste treatment in pursuit of maximum profit – leaving society and the natural environment to foot the bill while undermining legitimate business. For too long, criminals operating in our sector have viewed enforcement and criminal penalties as an acceptable cost of business, so the ESA and its members very much welcome the Environment Agency’s new financial investigatory efforts, alongside tougher asset-denial measures to demonstrate that crime in our sector doesn’t pay.   Success Stories and Ongoing Commitment The Environment Agency's proactive stance has already led to notable victories against waste crime, with significant financial penalties and prison sentences handed down to offenders. These successes are part of a broader, intelligence-led strategy that includes enhanced access to national law enforcement databases and innovative partnerships, such as the sharing of customs export data with HMRC. This collaborative approach enhances the ability to track and intercept illegal waste shipments, demonstrating a sophisticated response to the challenges of waste crime.

Future Directions and Enhanced Measures

Looking ahead, the Economic Crime Unit is ready to take on a central role in the Environment Agency's comprehensive strategy for combating waste crime. Alongside legislative reforms and technological advancements like mandatory digital waste tracking, the unit's work represents a multifaceted approach to protecting the environment and the legitimate waste management industry from criminal exploitation. In addition to direct enforcement actions, the unit's analytical capabilities allow for a deeper understanding of the financial flows underpinning waste crime, enabling targeted interventions against the most significant threats. This proactive and preventive stance is crucial for dismantling criminal networks and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the waste sector.   Sources: THX News, Environment Agency, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, & Robbie Moore MP Read the full article

[fastworldnews1]

British court issues orders to unfreeze Shahbaz Sharif, son's bank accounts

In a major relief for PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif, a British court has ordered the unfreezing of the Opposition leader's bank accounts and those belonging to his son, Suleman Sharif Monday.

The decision was taken by the court after the UK's top anti-corruption body, the National Crime Agency (NCA) concluded there was no evidence of money laundering, fraud and criminal conduct against the two, according to evidence seen by The News exclusively.

The Westminster Magistrates Court’s Judge Nicholas Rimmer set aside the two accounts freezing orders (AFO) against Shahbaz Sharif and his son related to a December 2019 case filed by the NCA at the Pakistani government's request.

The UK's top anti-corruption agency filed a unilateral application before Judge Rimmer to declare that its two-year high-profile investigation in the jurisdictions of Pakistan, UK and Dubai found no evidence of money laundering and criminal conduct on part of the two Sharifs who were investigated.

Documents obtained by The News reveal that the bank accounts of Suleman Sharif were frozen and Shahbaz Sharif’s accounts were probed through a December 17, 2019 court order and both were subjected to high-profile criminal forensic investigation under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA), conducted by the NCA’s Investigations Command at the International Corruption Unit.

Their accounts were frozen after the Pakistan government asked the UK to “assist in the recovery of criminal assets to the state of Pakistan”, triggering a wide-ranging investigation.

NCA probes Shahbaz. Suleman's accounts After the Westminster Magistrates Court allowed the accounts to be freezed and issued a probe consent to the NCA on December 19, 2019, Suleman Sharif’s declared Barclays account, Shahbaz Sharif’s HBL UK and Barclays account were immediately probed, seized and monies frozen.

This correspondent has seen court evidence which shows that the NCA’s investigators sought consent from Shahbaz Sharif to have access to his closed Barclays account as well or else the account will be accessed through a production order. Shahbaz Sharif agreed to the consent on the advice of his lawyers.

Usually, anti-money laundering investigations go back only six years, but in this case, the NCA used its excessive powers and investigated Shahbaz Sharif and his son's transactions dating back to around 20 years. NCA's investigators started the probe from the first flat that Shahbaz Sharif bought in 2004 on Edgware Road when he was in exile and asked him to produce evidence of the clean origin of the money, including mortgage payments, sources of proceeds in his accounts, salaries and dividends, and full proceeds of the property purchase in the UK, bought during exile.

The NCA investigated Suleman Sharif’s Barclays account declared in Pakistan with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and looked into all transfers which were made from Pakistan after the State Bank of Pakistan’s approval. The NCA went through each receipt of transfers from the official money exchangers.

The court documents obtained by this correspondent from credible sources show that the NCA received a letter from the ARU on December 11, 2019, in which it levelled allegations of criminal conduct against Shahbaz Sharif and Suleman Sharif.

The government of Pakistan had requested the UK government to seize all assets and funds of Shahbaz Sharif and his family, and asked them to return the same to Pakistan and extradite Suleman Shehbaz with his family.

The Home Office was in the loop and a separate letter was sent to the Home Office requesting Suleman's extradition, as well as asking Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) ministry to probe Suleman.

Court papers show that two AFOs were issued by the Westminster Magistrates Court on December 17 for 12 months in case numbers 011902628734 and 011902628947.

A year later, on December 8, 2020, the NCA went to the court again, applying to extend both AFOs for six months, arguing that investigations were continuing in the UK, Dubai and Pakistan. According to court papers, Suleman Shehbaz agreed to the extension of the AFOs by the court on three applications filed by the NCA.

No evidence of money laundering or fraud On September 10, 2021, the NCA submitted a unilateral application to the court informing that its investigations had been completed and the NCA crime investigators had found no evidence of money-laundering, fraud or wrongdoings in any of the transactions made either from Pakistan to the UK or from the UK to Pakistan in Suleman and Shahbaz Sharif's accounts.

District Judge Nicholas Rimmer signed the final order setting aside the AFOs, releasing and returning the accounts and monies to Suleman Shehbaz and his father.

According to a chronological order of the sensitive investigation - kept under tight wraps by the Sharifs, the NCA and the Pakistan government - a senior director of the NCA’s International Corruption Unit met Shehzad Saleem, Director General of NAB Lahore, in London on December 9, 2019 to discuss the formal investigation against Shahbaz and Suleman Sharif.

According to court papers, Shehzad Saleem explained to the NCA that Shehbaz Sharif’s wealth began to accumulate when he and his brother Nawaz Sharif gained prominence in the 1980s. The implication being that they were receiving bribes and other kickbacks because of their influential position.

The NAB Lahore official told the NCA official during their Central London meeting that Sharifs’ used the hawala system to transfer monies to make them clean and to legalise such transactions. He told the NCA that NAB’s investigation had identified a large number of remittances to bank accounts of the family, allegedly from Pakistanis living abroad.

It is therefore the NAB’s case, he told the NCA, and that the remittances are the laundering of illicit funds by, or on behalf of, Shahbaz Sharif and family, according to court papers.

The ARU's letter This correspondent has reviewed the letter of December 11, 2019 from the ARU to the NCA explaining why Shahbaz and Suleman Sharif should be investigated and what action should be taken. The ARU told the NCA that Shehbaz was wanted in Pakistan, under investigation, on bail, and a person of interest for misuse of authority during his tenure as chief minister Punjab, namely in his involvement in the Ashiana Housing scheme case and Hamza Sugar Mills case.

The Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) said in the same letter that Suleman was the “principal accused and beneficiary of the fake international remittances and money laundering through front and paper companies”. The Pakistani government's letter to the UK’s anti-corruption agency alleged that its investigation revealed that Shahbaz Sharif and Suleman “patronised a local network of front companies in the name of their low paid employees to launder their proceeds of corruption to show as legitimate money” and that both had “used informal money transfers (hawala) to shift and conceal their money abroad”.

The Pakistan government further told the NCA that the Panamagate investigations had “already culminated in sentences to Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz Sharif and others from the accountability court and these cases are presently pending with the Islamabad High Court in the appellate's jurisdiction.

It mentioned that investigations by NAB are presently underway for “corruption and organised money laundering” in relation to various members of the Sharif family, including Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Hamza Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Ishaq Dar, Nusrat Shahbaz, Suleman Sharif and mainly family members of Shahbaz Sharif for “money laundering “through companies owned by Shahbaz’s family members.

This correspondent has seen the full file which the NCA placed before the Westminster Magistrates Court in order to get the freezing orders (AFOs) issued against Shahbaz Sharif and Suleman. The NCA bundle went into detail to describe Shahbaz and his son as being allegedly involved in criminal conduct through misuse of authority and associated money laundering.

t relied on several newspaper clippings which carried allegations of money laundering, quoting Pakistan government ministers and their press conferences.

Attached in the bundle was also an article by David Rose for the Daily Mail which had been published on July 13, 2019 in which the paper alleged that Shahbaz had stolen the UK government funds.

The article carried the same allegations of money laundering that the ARU later on submitted before the NCA, asking the UK to rely on the article for its investigations.

The NCA gained AFOs and probe consent order for violations contrary to sections 327, 328 and 329 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, involving criminal offending contrary to conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office and conspiracy to cheat the public revenue; concealing criminal property; acquisition of criminal property; use and possessions of criminal property; and fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position.

No case for 'recoverable property', says NCA The NCA lawyers, requesting freezing orders for 12 months, added: "This will ultimately allow us to prove or disprove if these funds in whole or part, constitute recoverable property in that they are derived from criminal conduct or intended for use in unlawful conduct."

The NCA application, quoting the allegations made by the ARU, said that it needed 12 months because it will conduct enquiries internationally.

Credible legal sources here shared that the grounds of suspicion on which the NCA filed its application in the Westminster Magistrates Court to secure freezing orders were not proven as the investigations in multiple jurisdictions couldn’t establish evidence to prove money-laundering and criminal conduct.

That is the sole reason, according to sources, why the NCA gave it in writing to the Westminster Magistrates Court that its investigations had established that there was no case for the “recoverable property”, hence the unfreezing of assets and closure of the case file.

Reports of Shahbaz being acquirred incorrect, says Shahzad Akbar Meanwhile, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar said that reports of Shahbaz Sharif being acquitted by the British court were incorrect, clarifying that neither had the ARU nor NAB requested the UK government to initiate a probe against the PML-N leader.

He said the inquiry had been initiated over a "suspicious transaction" that a bank had reported to the NCA, adding that these consisted of certain funds transferred by Suleman Shahbaz from Pakistan to the UK in 2019.

"[These transactions] were declared as a suspicious transaction by the UK authorities and the NCA secured an asset freezing order(AFO) from the court against these funds," he tweeted. "However, recently the NCA decided to stop investigating these funds and therefore agreed for the release of these funds through the court.

"It is clarified that such a release order is not an acknowledgement that funds are from a legitimate source," he added. The prime minister'a aide said that Shahbaz and Suleman have not been acquitted since they had not been tried to begin with.

"The funds were frozen by the NCA and the NCA has decided to not investigate these funds anymore," he added. "Suleman Shahbaz remains a fugitive in a money laundering case against him and his father before the AC Lahore," he added.

PMLN Secretary Information Marriyum Aurangzeb said the UK court decision has unequivocally exonerated Shehbaz Sharif and his family of all malicious and vexatious claims of corruption and money laundering.

Responding to Shahzad Akbar’s tweet, she said the NCA UK conducted a 21-month global investigation spanning 20 years whilst overcoming unprecedented jurisdictional challenges. 

She said never in the history of Pakistan has a public office holder ever been subjected to global scrutiny and multi-jurisdictional probing as Shahbaz Sharif had been. 

Marriyum said the government's false corruption narrative was exposed, adding that it was telling a hundred more lies to cover up thousands that it had already told. 

She said the government will fall on the weight of its own deceit and lies.

https://ift.tt/3m4G2Ek

[ndbasilica]

Umbrella payroll cheats jailed for pocketing £45m

A family of fraudsters who pocketed more than £45m in the largest payroll fraud of its kind in the UK have been jailed for a total of 27-and-a-half years.

Essex Police is now looking to recover as much of the cash as possible from Geoffrey, Joshua and Andrew Copp.

Geoffrey, 55, his son Joshua, 24, and brother Andrew, 51, ran Central Payroll Specialists (CPS), which was later rebranded as Quality Premier Services (QPS), based in Croxley Heath near Rickmansworth.

These were umbrella payroll companies used by recruitment agencies to manage the wages of thousands of temporary workers across industries like construction.

Over the course of three years, the Copps did not pass the VAT they received from the recruitment agencies to HM Revenue and Customs.

They split the cash to fund lavish lifestyles including luxury cars, watches and property.

The scam came to light after information was passed to Essex Police, resulting in an investigation led by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, with the assistance of HMRC’s Criminal Taxes Unit.

Initial enquiries focused on Joshua and police found that during 2013-2014, £2.4m was transferred to his personal bank accounts from CPS, and a further £9.2m was transferred to him from CPS and QPS during 2014-2015.

Further investigations by Essex Police and HMRC found the two companies paid just under £4m in VAT between September 2012 and September 2015.

HMRC investigators estimated there was just under £46million in unpaid VAT.

Tax records also showed that Geoffrey and Joshua paid no income tax between 2009 and 2015, while Andrew had paid £15,930.

Warrants were executed at their homes in May and September 2015.

In March 2016 they were each charged with conspiracy to cheat the public revenue and conspiring to conceal, disguise, convert, transfer or remove criminal property.

They stood trial at Wood Green Crown Court on April 4 and were found guilty by a jury last week.

The court heard Geoffrey set up the businesses, later taking back seat in the day to management and passing over that responsibility to Andrew.

Joshua, who previously had very little work experience, also played a substantial role in the businesses.

They spent money on houses, expensive cars, jewellery, private jet travel and gambling.

Geoffrey Copp’s home in Stanmore, bought for £1.3million in January 2014

The court heard Geoffrey Copp bought four homes, one in Spain and three in England, mortgage free between 2014 and 2015. Their combined value is £3m.

He spent nearly £300,000 on private jet flights to Spain between July 2014 and January 2015 and owned several racehorses.

Picture on Joshua Copp’s Instagram account of himself and luxury cars. The Lamborghini is valued at £165,000.

When police executed warrants at Joshua’s home in Olivers Lane, Stotfold, in May 2015, they found several cars worth £1m overall registered in his name and ten watches with a combined value of about £400,000.

From February 2014, Andrew Copp bought four homes for £1,395,000 and six cars, including two Lamborghinis and a Bentley Continental.

Speaking after the hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Josie Hayes, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: “This was a sophisticated scam yet all three defendants consistently denied any knowledge that their companies owned such an enormous amount of VAT.

“They saw this money as a windfall to spend as they wished.

“But this was not a victimless crime.

“The vast sums of cash they spent so freely on their extravagant lifestyles should have gone into paying for public services such as health, welfare and law and order.

“All three were well aware of what they were doing and played a substantial role in this conspiracy.

“Geoffrey set up the payroll companies and the mechanism of the fraud.

“Andrew became the director of QPS during the time when most of the VAT was stolen.

“And Joshua played an administrative role and shared out the proceeds.

“Now they will all pay for their crimes with time behind bars.

“Essex Police will also begin the process of applying for confiscation orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover the cash that should rightfully have gone into the public purse, ensuring they do not benefit from their criminality.

“We have already obtained a restraint order for property and money valued at £22million, which ‘freezes’ property that may be liable to confiscation following a trial and the making of a confiscation order.

“I would like to thank the witnesses who provided evidence during the investigation and trial, and staff at HMRC’s Criminal Taxes Unit, with whom we have worked with closely on this complex case.”

QPS has been placed into liquidation as a result of a HMRC winding up petition. CPS was also liquidated.

HMRC’s Criminal Taxes Unit is working closely with the liquidators in order to maximise recoveries for creditors.

from Construction Enquirer http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2017/06/14/umbrella-payroll-cheats-jailed-for-pocketing-45m/

[lexlawuk]

HMRC Account Freezing Orders (AFOs): Legal Guide to Challenging AFOs

HMRC‘s crackdown on suspected criminal and money laundering activity has led to a staggering 170% increase in Account Freezing Orders (AFOs) over the last three years. If you’ve received notice that HMRC has frozen your account, it’s crucial to understand the implications and your rights. If HMRC has frozen your bank account, our expert team is here to provide you with the legal support you need…

[lexlawuk]

Rise in HMRC Asset Seizure Orders

Rise in HMRC Asset Seizure Orders

There has been a 177% increase in the number of account freezing orders (AFOs) issued by HMRC in 2019/20, rising to 166 from 60 the previous year.

By applying for an account freezing order (which can be for a sum as small as £1000), HMRC can prevent money being withdrawn from or deposited into accounts linked to suspected criminal activity or money that is suspected of having been obtained by…