UK: Tax adviser jailed for money laundering

Neil Hamilton MACPHERSON, 42, of Place House, Dunmow Road, Great Bardfield, Essex set up bank accounts and fronted companies involved in Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) frauds orchestrated across Europe by a French national Michel NAMER. These frauds were an attack on the VAT systems of France, Italy and Spain. Between 2004 and 2006 fraudulent payments totalling over 35 million Euro passed through bank accounts in the UK and Monaco which Macpherson controlled on behalf of Namer. Macpherson is a qualified taxation advisor and was previously a tax partner at what the UK government describes as "two large and respected London accountancy firms" before setting up his own practice, Salmac Management Limited, in 2004.

Macpherson agreed to act as Namer's "front man", allowing him anonymity from various law enforcement agencies across Europe whilst perpetrating MTIC frauds against their taxation systems. Macpherson was convicted on four out of five counts of money laundering. Namer is currently serving a six-year prison sentence for MTIC frauds carried out in the UK following the conclusion of a HMRC investigation in 2005. He has also been convicted of similar offences in Belgium and is the subject of an ongoing investigation in France.

Steve Baker, Assistant Director, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) Criminal Investigations said: "Macpherson abused his position of trust to launder the proceeds of organised crime and as such was as guilty of an attack on European VAT systems as those who organised and ran the original fraud."