Ex-Vantis' Perrin guilty of £70m tax fraud

FORMER VANTIS tax director David Perrin has been found guilty at Blackfriars Crown Court of trying to defraud taxpayers to the tune of £70m.

Perrin ran a tax scheme where up to £70m of tax relief was claimed on company shares donated to charities - despite the shares being worth a fraction of the relief being claimed.

He picked up more than £2m in fees from the clients.

Jim Graham, HMRC criminal investigator, said: "With his knowledge of the tax system, Perrin thought that he was one step ahead of both HMRC and the law. This cynical fraud not only stole millions of pounds from taxpayers, but also conned innocent charities into accepting gifts of virtually worthless shares, just so Perrin could inflate his own criminal earnings."

According to HMRC's press release, the scheme proved so popular that Vantis employees performed a "smug celebratory song" at their annual conference, to the tune of "I will survive". It included the verse: "They should have changed that stupid law, they should have buggered charity, but they have left that lovely tax relief, for folks to pay to me."
Perrin will be sentenced on 9 February.