Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office
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The Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office (RCPO) was created under the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 as an independent prosecution body to take responsibility in the England, Wales and Northern Ireland for the prosecution of criminal offences in cases previously within the purview of the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise (HMCE). In Scotland it is a Specialist Reporting Agency and the cases are then prosecuted by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.[1]
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[edit] History
An increase in the independence of prosecutors from the compliance and investigation staff at the revenue departments was recommended by the Gower-Hammond Report in December 2000 and the Butterfield Report in July 2003 following recent scandals and failed prosecutions, including the collapse of the London City Bond trial for evasion of tens of millions of pounds of excise duties as a result of the non-disclosure of the involvement of a paid Customs informant.
The RCPO was established on 18 April 2005, and is independent of HM Revenue and Customs (the new government department also created on 18 April 2005 under the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 by the merger of the Inland Revenue and HMCE). A memorandum of understanding lays out the boundaries between the work of the RCPO and HMRC. The RCPO is superintended by the Attorney General, and David Green QC was appointed as the first Director of the Customs and Excise Prosecutions in December 2004. RCPO coordinate its efforts with those of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and, from its inception in April 2006, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).
In its first year, to April 2006, it dealt with over 1700 cases, with over 75% guilty pleas and convictions in 90% of cases; obtained 411 confiscation orders, for a total of £36,617,204, of which £21,167,236 was collected by 11 April 2006. On 11 April 2006, it had 255 staff, including 80 lawyers, and an annual budget of £35.6 million.
[edit] Organisation
RCPO was created by the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005, as an independent prosecuting authority similar to the Crown Prosecution Service, but primarily prosecuting cases investigated by HM Revenue and Customs. Although RCPO began work when the CRC Act came into force in April 2005, its prosecutors were initially drawn from the merger of the Customs & Excise Prosecutions Office (CEPO) (which was itself established in 2003 from the previous HM Customs and Excise Solicitors' Office) and the Inland Revenue Crime Group. It has approximately 290 staff, including around 80 lawyers, based at New King's Beam House in London SE1 and Ralli Quays in Manchester. The RCPO equivalent to CPS Crown Prosecutors are called "Revenue and Customs Prosecutors".
The RCPO handles approximately 2,500 cases each year. In its first six months, RCPO concluded 858 cases convictions in 88% of cases. It deals with cases of fraud in relation to direct taxes (income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax) and indirect taxes (mainly VAT - notably multi-million pound Missing Trader Intra-Community ("carousel") frauds), tax credits, drug smuggling, and money laundering, cases involving United Nations trade sanctions, conflict diamonds and CITES. The majority of cases involve drug trafficking prosecutions.
Many cases of delinquent or fraudulent conduct in direct tax affairs are dealt with by the imposition of civil penalties and interests under the procedures formerly known as the Hansard statement and the Sheldon statement, now encapsulated in Code of Practice 9 (COP9): in return for making a full disclosure of past non-compliance and reaching a financial settlement, a taxpayer is given a guarantee that they will not be prosecuted.
[edit] References
- Introducing RCPO, David Green QC, Tax Journal, 21 November 2005
- Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office marks first year successes, RCPO press release PN06/0002, 11 April 2006
