Details of charges to all six defendants named in tax fraud case
Last week Stockport accountancy firm Bennett Verby and six individuals appeared in the Crown Court in Manchester to begin the legal process around an alleged series of criminal charges related to tax fraud.
As revealed by TheBusinessDesk.com on Friday, the trial has been scheduled for a three month window in September 2027.
Ian Buckley, a partner at Bennett Verby since 2004, was in court last week.
For the first time, we can now also reveal further details about the charges being brought, across five separate counts.
So far, no pleas have been entered.
The first count is Conspiracy to make articles for the use in fraud, contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977.
It is alleged that between 1 January 2021 and 1 April 2021, Josh Rothwell, Neil Jones, Geoffrey Rowlinson, and Mohammed Bashir, conspired to “make articles, namely articles associated with companies including but not limited to Companies House Forms, web pages, LinkedIn profiles, applications for bank accounts and company accounts knowing that they were designed or adapted for use in the course of or in connection with fraud.”
On count 2, Conspiracy to cheat the public revenue, contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977, the same four, Josh Rothwell, Jones, Rowlinson, and Bashir are also charged that they “conspired to cheat the public revenue of monies by making applications on behalf of companies to the Bounce Back Loans Scheme, which they knew the companies were not eligible for.”
Count 3, is also a charge of Conspiracy to cheat the public revenue, contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977, facing the same four, but also that between 1 March 2021 and 9 February 2022, Zachary Rothwell and Adam Greenwood also conspired with them to “cheat His Majesty’s Revenue of R&D tax credits by dishonestly submitting false corporation tax returns to support false claims for tax relief under the Research and Development Tax Relief scheme on behalf of companies they knew were not entitled to the relief.”
On the fourth count, Transferring Criminal Property, contrary to section 327(1)(d) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, Josh Rothwell, Neil Jones, Geoffrey Rowlinson, between 1 March 2021 and 9 February 2022, together “transferred criminal property, namely, the R&D tax relief credits they had falsely obtained from the submission of false corporation tax returns on behalf of companies they created, knowing or suspecting the credits to represent whole or in part the proceeds of criminal conduct.”
The fifth count is Failure to Prevent the Facilitation of UK tax evasion and contract to the Criminal Finances Act 2017, and relates to Bennett Verby Limited in the period between 1 January 2021 and 9 February 2022, they were “a relevant body” whilst Neil Jones committed UK tax evasion offences, “namely conspiracy to cheat His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs when Neil Jones acted in the capacity as a person associated with Bennett Verby Limited.”
That fifth count has sent ripples through the accountancy profession as it is the first ever case of a firm facing charges of failing to prevent tax evasion under section 45 of the Criminal Finances Act (2017).
The time set aside for the trial is 12 weeks, and there will be a further hearing this coming December for the parties to enter pleas, or motions to dismiss charges.
As reported earlier this week, when approached for comment by TheBusinessDesk.com, the Stockport firm said: “The business faces a single technical regulatory offence connected to its monitoring procedures; this is not part of the principal case before the court. We can confirm that the matter is denied and will be vigorously defended.”
Michael Hayton KC, Head of Chambers at Deans Court Chambers has been instructed to represent the firm in what he describes as the first prosecution under this section of the legislation, which alleges a failure to prevent the facilitation of UK tax evasion offences.
