QC convicted of £600,000 VAT fraud
Silk claimed to be 'extremely poor' at paperwork
Rohan Pershad QC, a former member of 39 Essex Street, has been convicted of cheating the public revenue over a period of 12 years by failing to pay over £600,000 in VAT.
Pershad is reported to have told Blackfriars Crown Court earlier this month that he was “extremely poor at paperwork” and believed his chambers had paid the tax.
He was said to have been a specialist in professional negligence, commercial disputes and personal injury work and, according to an online CV, had a ‘particular expertise in fraud cases’.
However, Keri Ashworth-Beaumont, prosecutor from the CPS Central Fraud Division, said after today’s verdict: “Rohan Pershad QC failed to pay VAT for a period of 12 years, despite charging his clients that VAT. As a result, he retained an additional private income of £624,579, which should have been paid to HMRC and the public purse.
“By convicting him today, the jury has concluded that Pershad was acting dishonestly and his failure to pay was not simply an error or mistake.
“He claimed that his chambers had given the impression that payment of his VAT had been taken care of, but the jury clearly rejected that assertion. Pershad always admitted that he understood the law and the responsibility for meeting his obligations rested on him alone.”
The HMRC launched a taskforce to tackle tax evasion in the London legal profession, with the aim of recouping £3m in unpaid tax from law firms and barristers’ chambers, in September last year.
A spokesman said: “We will be selective, and a lot will be based on former compliance and whether someone has a big gap in their VAT or tax returns.”
Keir Starmer QC (pictured), the DPP, said at the end of last month that tax evasion should not be treated as a ‘victimless crime’ and cost the British economy more than £14bn a year in lost revenue.
“Tax evasion has to be dealt with robustly all the time. But in a recession, when ordinary law-abiding tax payers are suffering real hardship, the need to deter, detect and prosecute those who evade tax is greater than ever.”