Govt. rejects industry pleas A list which is in Mobile News possession identifies several well-known companies writes Paul Tweeddale. At the time of going to press Customs and Excise had not returned our calls to verify the lists authenticity.
Many traders were furious that their name appeared.
It is absolutely diabolical that some list can come from Customs or anyone else insinuating that the companies listed are involved in VAT fraud. Especially when its legitimate people like us who appear on it fumed one trader.
We havent heard from Customs and we havent had a visit. I realise they have to stem the tide of VAT fraud. But they have put a lot of legitimate businesses like ourselves out of business because of the rules they have introduced. And now to complicate things with an unofficial list is just ridiculous.
The international sales and purchasing manager of another company named denied any wrongdoing and said he was keen to find out why his company has been linked to carousel fraud in this way.
We have no idea why were are on the list and we are very frustrated. We are trying to see how we are involved. There are so many names on the list that it is as if the whole industry is involved.
We have been in the mobile market for many years and we have never had any enquiries from Customs and Excise before.
We will be speaking to our suppliers to see what is going on. This stuff has almost stopped our business.
The sooner we can get rid of the bad companies and the sooner we can get back to normal the better said the trader.
One trader who has been questioned by VAT investigators said:
We dont know why our name appears on the list. We stopped trading after the new legislation came into effect in March.
When Customs turned up early in the morning they didnt tell us which deals they were investigating or when.
They just asked us if we knew any of the companies.We have done nothing wrong. All we are doing is helping Customs with their enquiries. Just because one company does one thing doesnt mean all of us should be tarred with the same brush.
All our suppliers are cleared with Customs and Excise before we deal with them and at the end of every month we send the details of any new company weve traded with back to Customs. (Cont p2)
Other dealers reacted angrily to the news they were on the list
One trader raged: It is bad enough having people gossiping about who is on the list.
If our company name appears in Mobile News as being on the list it could end our business.
The Customs hit list follows a massive raid by 350 Customs and Excise officers on July 2. More than 70 businesses and homes in the UK and Spain were raided.
In England searches and arrests were made in the counties of Buckinghamshire Cheshire Essex Lancashire Middlesex Staffordshire and Surrey and in Coventry Liverpool London Manchester Northampton Reading Sheffield Slough and Wolverhampton.
Raids also took place in Wales in Cardiff and Wrexham. About 350 Customs officers were involved helped by police in Britain and Spain.
Not even The Carphone Warehouse escaped the extensive dragnet. Customs officers arrived unannounced at the companys Acton headquarters and quizzed distribution head Tony Jeffrey and another member of the trading team under caution before leaving with a quantity of files.
We havent heard anything further. We think they wanted to speak to our guys because they want information about some of the other people they are investigating said Carphone Warehouse chief executive Charles Dunstone.
Ironically The Carphone Warehouse ceased much of its trading earlier this year. The company still deals in traded-in stock and sources kit for its stores from the Far East but has stopped buying equipment in the UK. Dunstone says the pull-back will cost the company up to 4 million a year.
The networks (with the exception of O2) together blew 10 million in legal and consultancy fees to challenge a ruling by Oftel and the Competition Commission that they had to reduce their termination charges.
Thats the estimate of outgoing Oftel director general David Edmonds who gave an exclusive interview with Mobile News following the High Courts decision to dismiss the networks legal challenge.
But Edmonds insists he is not gloating over Oftels victory
Im not triumphant but I am pleased that that the work we carried out over the past two years has been vindicated.
I am delighted the High Court ruled that Oftel and the Competition Commission had acted properly he said.
I am sorry it came to this. I thought the proposals we made two years ago were fair to the industry and fair to consumers. At the time the market was suffering considerable turbulence.
I thought RPI minus 11 per cent was fair to everybody. The Competition Commission argued that I had been too fair and toughened up the price controls.
Ive heard the networks have spent 10 million in legal and consultancy fees. The diversion of management effort must have been significant. The networks now are slightly worse off than they might have been if theyd accepted my original proposals.
I am disappointed that the industry didnt see the sense of what I am proposing although I am pleased that O2 disassociated itself from the appeal. That was a sensible decision.
In regulation you come to the end of one cycle and you get straight on with the next.
Im meeting with Vodafone in a couple of days. The question of termination charges will come up but Im far more interested in the way it is planning to enter the world of 3G.
Regulators cant be vindictive or triumphalist. They have to get on with the task of regulation.
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