Rupert Kent represented a man accused of being party to a large-scale cheat on the public revenue, the prosecution’s case being that over £20m-worth of VAT and CIS tax was fraudulently withheld as the result of an ongoing dishonest arrangement between members of an organised crime group, who operated a number of front payroll companies, and an array of complicit company directors and associates who fed payroll from their businesses through these companies.
After a five-week trial at Southwark Crown Court, Rupert’s client was acquitted of all charges – one of only two defendants to be acquitted out of the 24 defendants that have been prosecuted to-date in this 29-defendant case.
