MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Repay £122m
No doubt there will be some sort of a loophole or clause so they get to keep their own ill gotten gains.
Sadly expected - rich enough to know the loopholes.
Yup indeed at least one of Barrowmans companies specialised in advising people on "tax loopholes". I put it in quotes because as it turned out HRMC disagreed and a large number of people had an unpleasant chat with HMRC about paying up.
Another one was investigated by the Spanish authorities and he was prosecuted but in that case the loophole held up.
The really annoying thing here is that even if HMT do get some or all of the money back these two will still end up having quite a wealthy lifestyle. Its as if once you are beyond a certain income threshold you become immune to hardship as lawyers and accountants seem to be able to duck and weave with money. More roast swan dear?
@aberdeenlune This from last year https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/26/michelle-mone-assets-frozen-nca-investigates-fraud would suggest that things are not going to improve for "Lady" Mone in the mid-term.
I understand the life peerage will disappear on summary conviction, to explain the quotation marks.
I don't think she can be stripped of the Baroness title without an act of parliament - last used in WW1. But she can be kicked out of the Lords (but technically still holding the title) if she is convicted and sentenced to over 12 months in prison. (that's essentially the opposite of summary conviction but thats technicalities)
More info on the rest of the corrupt bastards who need taken down below, but I imagine the politicians and newspapers will start harping on about benefit claims very soon
The ITV programme last week about the many PPE, testing, etc, .. scandals, just left me feeling sick at the greed and ineptitude of it all 😖
As for the inability to hold people to account 🤢
What disgusts me most is this type of greed is coming from people who were already well off, were already near the top of the pile anyway (including all the various politicians that facilitated this)
I mean Mone and her disgusting husband are both bright people - he was a chartered accountant working for 3i and she was always on the grift and her companies were all mostly shite and on the con but she had energy and vision. If they had just built up a normal business, paid tax, employed people etc they would still be multi millionaires.....why do these people always go over to the dark side?
You can kind of see why a career crim born the wrong side of the tracks with no opportunities would be a wrong'un like the Krays etc but there is absolutely no excuse here.
Scum of the earth.
Money only buys you so much - can't think they'd possibly need more.
The really annoying thing here is that even if HMT do get some or all of the money back
Was just watching the report on Sky from the good law project.
They are pretty confident the public wont see any of the money returned.
Pay or Prison might swing that.
she will go somewhere without extradition to the UK
Looks unlikely the taxpayer is getting a single penny back.
Michelle Mone-linked PPE firm liquidated and unlikely to repay £148m
The UK Government is unlikely to see most of the £148m it is owed by a faulty PPE supplier linked to Baroness Michelle Mone after the company was wound up.
The words "hoof" and "slats" spring to mind for the pair of them
Looks unlikely the taxpayer is getting a single penny back.
Its somewhat confusing since there does seem to be about 80 million which was been frozen so are we getting that back? Obviously that still leaves them with about the same again but far better than them keeping the lot.
It does seem they will mostly get away with it which isnt overly surprising, even leaving aside how many others have got away with it, when you look at his track record which seems based around setting up dodgy tax evasion schemes which when HMRC turn round after a few years and say "**** off" resulting in the clients being screwed but since he got paid up front he is fine.
Its one of those cases which really tests my belief in sticking to the law vs having an assignment for every special forces selection program with "go and screw with these people in a technically nonharmful but in reality an absolutely mind****ing way"
Its somewhat confusing since there does seem to be about 80 million which was been frozen so are we getting that back? Obviously that still leaves them with about the same again but far better than them keeping the lot.
I think (but am not sure) the frozen assets can only be accessed if there is proven criminality - that is AFAIR still to be tested in a criminal court.
The surprising bit is that there is a huge tax bill too. Obviously companies do go bust owing money to HMRC quite often, but it would be unusual for them to have distributed many millions to shareholders/trusts and then not have funds to pay tax. At the very least that is likely to get them struck off as directors, which whilst not jail is probably quite damaging for “business” people.
The authorities can seek civil recovery for what it believes is property obtained through unlawful conduct (POCA s5). This has a lower burden of proof than proceeds of crime forfeiture in criminal matters. No doubt this will all be bargained about and everyone will claim victory at some point in a decade or so.
The surprising bit is that there is a huge tax bill too.
Nah thats the one unsurprising bit with this couple. His "entrepreneur" reputation seems purely based on creating tax avoidance schemes which after investigation, eg plus several years, end up being evasion but at that point he has exited and his clients end up with the tax bill.
Looks unlikely the taxpayer is getting a single penny back.
Not surprised in the slightest. I said years ago, on here, when people were talking about cracking down on offshore/corporate tax avoidance, that the only crackdowns forthcoming and effective will be on the little people. And so it was/is! Just look how aggressively they go after benefit claimants, over a few hundred quid and can implement tax systems for site workers and IT contractors swinging the lead. Yet when it's millions or billions from rich people, it's not worth pursuing (according to newspapers/media) or implementing effective laws to sort it. Rich people get to negotiate or call it an error while the rest of the plebs get banged up quick sharp!