Darren Upton goes down for 6 years

[eek]

Surely that explains everything. I'm surprised he wasn't sectioned rather than imprisoned.

His brief ought to be leaning heavily on the "not of sound mind" argument, and citing the amount of time spent at Elland Road as compelling proof.

That's already been said.

[shaunbhoy]

That's already been said.

But worth repeating, surely?

[Churchill]

But worth repeating, surely?

Shirley? Shirley.

[Bagpuss]

Wonder if he was planning running off as it transpires they have now found 300,000 euros in the seychelles

‘Arrogant’ fraudster to face six years in prison - Main Section - Yorkshire Post

[Bumfluff]

As part of the police investigation does anyone know if they identify everyone who had been impacted and contact them ?

[minstrel]

I think the whole process of delegating authority and appointing an agent for dealings with HMRC needs to be reviewed.

With the increase of electronic submissions and dealing with everything online it's going to be increasingly easy for rogue agents to commit fraud in the way Darren has.

The current systems don't seem fit for purpose when it comes to an agent getting approval for account and corporation tax submissions. A lot of accountants I've had dealings with tend to do it all year end submissions electronically. However, when you are happy with the figures you have to print out a copy of the relevant pages, sign them and send them back to accountant by post. The accountant then submits it all electonically, keeping the signed pages for audit purposes. It's an electronic process, but the most important step - approval - is done manually.

What we need is an approval system on the HMRC portal so that accountants can prepare all the submissions, which is what we pay them for, but they don't get submitted to HMRC until a Director reviews and clicks the submit button.

It's worrying the amount of power that we are virtually compelled to delegate to accountants. I know 99% of accountants wouldn't dream of playing the tricks that Darren has, but a process which requires all electronic submissions to be approved online by a Director before being committed would protect the accountants as much as it would the Director.

[Churchill]

As part of the police investigation does anyone know if they identify everyone who had been impacted and contact them ?

Erm I think I can answer that, have you had a call from the Police and were you impacted?

[Bumfluff]

Erm I think I can answer that, have you had a call from the Police and were you impacted?

No call, but I was told previously that police were not reviewing all files and it was up to the client to establish if it had happened or not, I was questioning whether this had changed ? I rang HMRC a number of times to check things and was told all was ok but this was the same response others got who then found out they were not ok, considering the last time I rang my CT office and there person there couldnt even read the number out correctly and spent most of her time huffing and puffing at me I have little faith in them, or HMRC generally.

[cojak]

Wonder if he was planning running off as it transpires they have now found 300,000 euros in the seychelles

‘Arrogant’ fraudster to face six years in prison - Main Section - Yorkshire Post

I'm sure that's only one of many, let's hope they find the rest.

Upton will now face further hearings to recover any money from his actions which the court heard would go towards compensation.

[Bagpuss]

With the proceeds of crime act it's less easy to pass assets over to relatives now so hopefully he will lose his house etc. However, he owes so much money it's unlikely there will be much pro rata from the UK.

The proceeds of crime people should look at some of his linkedin connections, he has a few offshore financial connections on there. Last thing anyone would want is him coming out to a little warchest from hidden accounts.