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The Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office (RCPO) was a non-departmental public body 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 was a Specialist Reporting Agency and the cases are then prosecuted by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. [1] It was merged with the Crown Prosecution Service on 1 January 2010. [2]
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 [3] 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 an unpaid Customs informant.
The RCPO was established on 18 April 2005, and was 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 laid 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 coordinated 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.
Following an announcement by the Attorney General in April 2009, on 1 January 2010 the RCPO was merged with the Crown Prosecution Service, forming a new Revenue and Customs Division within the CPS, with the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Keir Starmer, additionally being appointed to the statutory position of Director of Revenue and Customs Prosecutions. [2] That office was abolished and merged with the office of DPP on 27 March 2014. [4]
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 had 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 were called "Revenue and Customs Prosecutors".
The RCPO handled approximately 2,500 cases each year. In its first six months, RCPO concluded 858 cases with convictions in 88% of them. It dealt with cases of fraud in relation to direct taxes (income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax) and indirect taxes (mainly VAT – notably multimillion-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 involved drug trafficking prosecutions.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the office or official charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world. The title is used mainly in jurisdictions that are or have been members of the Commonwealth of Nations.
HM Customs and Excise was a department of the British Government formed in 1909 by the merger of HM Customs and HM Excise; its primary responsibility was the collection of customs duties, excise duties, and other indirect taxes.
The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax, petroleum revenue tax and stamp duty. More recently, the Inland Revenue also administered the Tax Credits schemes, whereby monies, such as Working Tax Credit (WTC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC), are paid by the Government into a recipient's bank account or as part of their wages. The Inland Revenue was also responsible for the payment of child benefit.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, state attorney or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a local government area, typically a county or a group of counties. The exact scope of the office varies by state. Generally, the prosecutor represents the people of the jurisdiction. With the exception of three states, district attorneys are elected, unlike similar roles in other common law jurisdictions.
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in civil law. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial against the defendant, an individual accused of breaking the law. Typically, the prosecutor represents the state or the government in the case brought against the accused person.
His Majesty's Revenue and Customs is a non-ministerial department of the UK Government responsible for the collection of taxes, the payment of some forms of state support, the administration of other regulatory regimes including the national minimum wage and the issuance of national insurance numbers. HMRC was formed by the merger of the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise, which took effect on 18 April 2005. The department's logo is the Tudor Crown enclosed within a circle.
The Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which combined the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise into a single government department, HM Revenue and Customs. The Act also established the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office, and provided for inspections of HMRC by HM Inspectors of Constabulary to ensure that it complies with the law.
Dame Barbara Jean Lyon Mills DBE, QC was a British barrister. She held various senior public appointments including Director of Public Prosecutions, and was widely seen as a pioneer for women gaining such appointments in the higher echelons of the legal profession. At the time of her death she was chair of the Professional Oversight Board.
Sir David Calvert-Smith, styled The Hon. Mr Justice Calvert-Smith, is a retired British jurist. He was Director of Public Prosecutions of England and Wales from 1998 to 2003 and then a High Court judge.
His or Her Majesty's Excise refers to 'inland' duties levied on articles at the time of their manufacture. Excise duty was first raised in England in 1643. Like HM Customs, the Excise was administered by a Board of Commissioners who were accountable to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. While 'HM Revenue of Excise' was a phrase used in early legislation to refer to this form of duty, the body tasked with its collection and general administration was usually known as the Excise Office.
The Minister of Inland Revenue is the political office of Minister for the department of Inland Revenue which is responsible for the collection of taxes. "Minister of Inland Revenue" is a title held by politicians in different countries. As of 2017 the office remains in use in New Zealand, held by Stuart Nash; no historical information about the New Zealand office is provided on the government web site.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the third most senior public prosecutor in England and Wales, ranking after the attorney general and solicitor general.
Oluwashijibomi "Shiji" Lapite was a 34-year-old Nigerian asylum seeker who died in the back of a police van shortly after being detained by two officers from Stoke Newington police station in London.
A specialist reporting agency is an organisation other than the Police Service of Scotland who report alleged crimes to the Procurators Fiscal in Scotland. These include HM Revenue and Customs, Health and Safety Executive, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Trading Standards departments of local authorities.
The first signs of the modern distinction between criminal and civil proceedings were during the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The earliest criminal trials had very little, if any, settled law to apply. However, the civil delictual law was highly developed and consistent in its operation.
HMC Searcher is one of four cutter ships operated by UK Border Force in the role of patrolling the waters of the United Kingdom. She was launched by Damen Shipyards in the Netherlands in 2002.
HMC Sentinel was a patrol ship operated by the Border Force in the role of patrolling the waters of the United Kingdom. It is a Vosper Thornycroft 'Island Class' vessel and was commissioned in 1993.
Dame Alison Margaret Saunders, is a British barrister and a former Director of Public Prosecutions. She was the first lawyer from within the Crown Prosecution Service and the second woman to hold the appointment. She was also the second holder of this office not to be a Queen's Counsel. She was previously the Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London. Her term of office ended on 31 October 2018. She is now a Partner at the Magic Circle law firm Linklaters.
Sir David John Mark Green is a British lawyer and prosecutor, who served from 2012 until 2018 as the Director of the Serious Fraud Office.