Successful prosecution of offshore account holder

August 19th 2009

In February 2009, Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office’s (RPCO) specialist direct tax division secured the conviction and sentencing of Jonathan Cronin, a businessman who had diverted more than £220,000 into offshore bank accounts in order to avoid paying tax.

Cronin, who ran two security systems firms in Worcester, pleaded guilty to two counts of cheating the public revenue and two further counts relating to VAT payments. Over many years, the defendant had diverted company income into his own personal off-shore bank account in Jersey. He would ask customers to make cheques payable to him personally rather than to his business and these sums would not pass through the books and records of the company.

In court, the RPCO’s prosecutors presented evidence of a complex direct tax fraud going back several years. The complexity and absence of some documentation, as well as the fact that the Jersey account was used for honest transactions as well as dishonest ones, necessitated the instruction of a forensic accountant.

When interviewed, Cronin said that no “significant” amounts of money had been involved. Although individual sums were relatively small, over the course of six years of trading, Cronin siphoned off money amounting to a very significant tax loss of over £98,000. Jonathan Cronin was sentenced to 18 months in jail. The RCPO say confiscation proceedings will be brought against Cronin to ensure that the money lost is returned to the public purse. The RCPO also made a successful application to have Cronin disqualified from acting as a company director for five years from 13 March 2009.

For further information see:

http://www.rcpo.gov.uk/en-gb/MediaCentre/Studies/Pages/Businessmanconvictedof