Football bosses deny part in £323,000 wages scam
Accountants protest innocence in Boston United wage scam as bosses plead guilty to five-year tax fiddle
Two finance officials have protested his innocence in a £323,000 tax swindle
at Boston United Football Club.
Brian James of Benington, Hertfordshire,, Boston’s former director and
payroll manager, and Ian Lee, 57, the former club accountant, denied a charge of
conspiring to cheat the public revenue between April 5, 1997, and June 1,
2002, as the club’s manager and chairman both confessed to being part of a scam
to disguise players’ wages and bonuses as expenses.
Southwark Crown Court heard how the crime had helped support the club as it
rose from a UniBond League team to the heady heights of the Coca Cola League
Two.
Prosecutors believed that the fiddle had ensured the club’s survival, giving
it an unfair advantage over its rivals.
Martin Hicks QC, told jurors yesterday: ‘The scam was very simple.
‘Wages, which attracted tax, were disguised as out-of-pocket expenses, which
do not attract tax.
‘Various fees and bonuses, such as signing on fees or winning bonuses, went
undisclosed when they should have been declared.’
He told jurors the end-of-year tax returns submitted by the club were
repeatedly paraded as ‘accurate and true’.
‘In reality they were false and dishonestly so.’
The case continues.