Tax scheme suspects Faichney and Perrin sue Vantis

Tax scheme suspects Faichney and Perrin sue Vantis

Two former Vantis tax advisers sue the firm for wrongful dismissal and unpaid salaries

Two executives, who are facing charges over a multi-million pound tax scheme
involving celebrity clients including former England rugby captain Martin Corry,
are suing their former firm Vantis.

Robert Faichney and David Perrin face charges that they “cheated Her Majesty
and the public purse”.

The pair have launched legal action against Vantis, who sacked them, claiming
more than £1m in unpaid salary, unpaid bonus, and damages for wrongful
dismissal.

HMRC has accused the pair of abusing the Gift Aid scheme by setting up four
companies listed on the Jersey stock exchange, then gifting 321 million shares
to charities on the basis they were worth £1 each.

Two charities who received the gifts, the Aids charity Terrence Higgins Trust
and Action Medical Research, claimed the shares were worthless because they were
impossible to sell.

Faichney and Perrin deny the charges, and are now suing Vantis HR, Vantis
Tax, and Vantis plc.

They were invited to an investigatory and disciplinary meeting on 27 October
2009 and Perrin was refused more time to prepare, and was told he faced “what
appears to be very serious criminal charges…of great concern to Vantis”.

They were suspended on 30 October on full pay but Faichney says Vantis failed
to pay his salary due from November, and stopped paying Perrin from December.

This, the pair says, was a repudiatory breach of contract, and Vantis had
received a letter from their solicitors DLA Piper denying they had committed
criminal offences.

Vantis’s ability to meet its liabilities was in question after it defaulted
on a plan to pay outstanding legal fees to DLA Piper and the pair says it was
this, rather than any supposed belief in their wrongdoing, which provided the
chief motivation for Vantis to stop paying their salaries.

Not paying their salaries was a breach of their contracts, they claim.
Faichney is also seeking payment of a bonus of £195,000 and Perrin of £105,000.
Faichney is also seeking damages of £708,500 for his minority interest in the
company and Perrin £381,500.

Both are also seeking damages for wrongful dismissal, and unpaid holiday pay.

The writ was issued by Peter Coyle, of Coyle White Devine in Amersham.

Further reading:

Antiguan
assets give Vantis a lifeline

Vantis
accountants appear in court accused of tax evasion scheme

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