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Top lawyer urges MPs to review private prosecutions after Post Office scandalParliament should consider formal regulation of the growing practice of private prosecutions to ensure the power is not abused, the chair of the Bar Council has said.Sam Townend KC said a review of private prosecutions should be launched in response to the Post Office scandal, in which about 3,500 postmasters were accused of theft, fraud and false accounting, and more than 700 prosecuted in cases brought by the organisation.Despite the Post Office believing it was a victim of criminal behaviour, it was also able to act as prosecutor. “Those bringing private prosecutions almost inevitably have a vested interest,” said Townend.Legal experts point to a significant growth in private prosecutions over the past 10 years as significant funding cuts to the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have limited their ability to investigate and prosecute crimes. The government confirmed earlier this week that it was considering whether it was appropriate for public or publicly owned bodies to have the power to bring private prosecutions.
Post Office may face £100m tax bill over victim payouts - expertsThe Post Office may have underpaid more than £100m in tax while overpaying its senior executives, according to tax experts.Dan Neidle of Tax Policy Associates says the Post Office paid less tax by deducting payments to victims of the Horizon scandal from its profits.This could count as a possible breach of tax law, according to experts.In this instance, the Post Office allegedly deducted the payments made to victims of the Horizon IT scandal from their revenue, resulting in a lower profit and therefore a lower tax bill. Mr Neidle said: "The non-deductibility of compensation for unlawful acts is a well-known point."Heather Self from accounting and advisory firm Blick Rothenberg agreed."The payments of compensation by the Post Office are almost certainly not deductible for corporation tax purposes, in my view. Not only is it difficult to argue that they were incurred for trading purposes, there is also a general rule of public policy that fines - or payments in the nature of fines - are not deductible."The BBC understands that HMRC is investigating the way that the Post Office has accounted for the compensation payments and provisions.In its most recently published financial accounts, the risk of a significant adverse tax ruling is acknowledged.Mr Neidle estimates that deducting postmaster compensation from the Post Office's trading profit would mean that it underpaid more than £100m in corporation tax.The Post Office does not currently have enough money to pay that bill and would therefore, Mr Neidle argues, be technically insolvent.While the Post Office appears to have deducted compensation provisions from their taxable profits, it apparently ignored them when it came to calculating executive pay.The largest determinant of bosses' pay is a measure the Post Office calls "trading profit", which excludes the money set aside to compensate scandal victims, thereby increasing the pay of executives.Chief executive Nick Read received a salary of £436,000 in the year ended 2022, plus a bonus of £137,000, as the Post Office was deemed to have recorded an above target trading profit if compensation provisions were ignored.
Post Office scandal: Minister says he wants to see those responsible jailedThe minister responsible for the Post Office says he wants to see people jailed over the Horizon IT scandal.Kevin Hollinrake said that people found to be responsible for the scandal "must be held to account" after the official inquiry reaches a verdict.He added that he didn't think there was a "hope in hell" of the Post Office bringing private prosecutions.
Greece heading for another record year in tourismThe momentum of airline reservations, i.e. the tickets that have already been sold as well as the airline seats planned by the airlines for Greece this season, point to an increase in tourism arrivals of up to 10% this year compared to the all-time high recorded in 2023This is provided there are no unforeseeable domestic or international events.
Iconic Zakynthos beach shipwreck ‘disappearing’Local authorities on the Ionian island of Zakynthos want to take over the management and maintenance of the iconic shipwreck on Navagio Beach, which has suffered extensive damage and is at risk of vanishing altogether.Local reports say the wreck has been badly battered by waves and bad weather, especially during winter, while sand has largely covered the hull.Speaking to state broadcaster ERT, Zakynthos Mayor Giorgos Stasinopoulos said “it’s time for the municipality to manage this particular spot.” He noted that protecting the wreck is hampered by the need for coordination between several agencies. “The ship is disappearing; it’s the last chance to save what’s left,” he stressed.The MV Panagiotis ran aground in October 1980 on the world-famous beach, sometimes referred to as “Smugglers Cove.” ‘Navagio’ means shipwreck in Greek. The beach was originally known as Agios Georgios.
Property Regulations, Fees Changing Drastically in Greece This YearThe end of the memorandum years and the return of the Greek economy to positive growth rates was accompanied by an explosive rise in the property market, leading the state to introduce measures that keep a balance between helping owners and those seeking to buy homes, and imposing fair taxes for those who are renting out their properties.Criteria will be stricter in 2024 for those acquiring income from three or more short-term rental properties, as they will be obliged to register at the tax offices as business people who have to collect VAT tax. Specifically, those who rent out three or more properties (over 7,000 owners) will have to change status and become business owners, paying for insurance fees, an annual freelancer fee (telos epitidevmatos) and VAT on every property. Some 102,422 individuals who own 141,452 properties will have to include in their rentals a visitors’ and an environmental fee.
‘Ten percent of Greeks are not adequately fed’Pantelis Tsiadis’ day often begins before dawn, with the alarm clock ringing at 5.30 a.m. The 57-year-old divides his time between the facilities of the food bank in Kryoneri, East Attica, and the kitchen of the Panagia Myrtidiotissa parish in Mikrolimano, Piraeus, various shops in the neighborhood that contribute to the free meal program, as well as delivering food to those who need it but are unable to come to the soup kitchen.There are 30 volunteers working at the parish’s community center, preparing meals six times a week for 60 local residents in need of support: long-term unemployed, low-income pensioners, young people with health problems, and, since the start of the pandemic, the list has also included large families.The Athens Food Bank, a member of the European Federation of Food Banks (FEBA), was founded in 1995 by businessman Gerasimos Vassilopoulos. Greece has six food banks today – in Athens, Thessaloniki, Larissa, Arta, Drama and Iraklio in Crete – while a seventh is being planned for the western port city of Patra.Greece has the seventh worst performance in Europe, with one in 10 residents facing food insecurity, meaning an objective inability to have food of sufficient quality and/or quantity on a steady basis.
Plans to reform private prosecutions after Post Office Horizon scandalPlans to overhaul the growing “cottage industry” of private prosecutions are already being urgently examined by ministers in the wake of the Post Office scandal, including measures that could see untrustworthy bodies barred from pursuing them.Labour is also understood to be drawing up its own reform package this weekend after the outcry prompted by the Post Office’s use of private prosecutions against more than 700 post office subpostmasters. It means that there is growing scope for a cross-party commitment to complete any reforms after the election.Safeguards are needed against the abuse of private prosecutions, the Post Office scandal showsRead moreA new inspection regime for private prosecutors, a binding code of standards and the creation of a new power to strip an organisation of its power to conduct them are all being discussed in Whitehall.
Tenants of housing association where mould killed boy told they're 'breathing too much'Tenants who were fearing for their lives due to the amount of damp and mould in their homes said they were told that "too much breathing" was contributing to their health issues.
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Topic: 13/01/24 (Read 870 times)
