“Please note all goods remain the property of [Vision] until paid for in full”
“ If a taxpayer has the means at his disposal of knowing that by his purchase he is participating in a transaction connected with fraudulent evasion of VAT he loses his right to deduct, not as a penalty for negligence, but because the objective criteria for the scope of that right are not met. It profits nothing to contend that, in domestic law, complicity in fraud denotes a more culpable state of mind than carelessness, in the light of the principle in Kittel . A trader who fails to deploy means of knowledge available to him does not satisfy the objective criteria which must be met before his right to deduct arises.”
“[59] The test in Kittel is simple and should not be over-refined, it embraces not only those who know of the connection but those who “should have known”
“A trader who decides to participate in a transaction connected to fraudulent evasion, despite knowledge of that connection, is making an informed choice; he knows where he stands and knows before he enters into the transaction that if found out, he will not be entitled to deduct input tax. The extension of that principle to a taxable person who has the means of knowledge but chooses not to deploy it, similarly, does not infringe that principle. If he has the means of knowledge available and chooses not to deploy it he knows that, if found out, he will not be entitled to deduct. If he chooses to ignore obvious inferences from the facts and circumstances in which he has been trading, he will not be entitled to deduct.”
“That is not the only question. The ultimate question is not whether the trader exercised due diligence but rather whether he should have known that the only reasonable explanation for the circumstances in which his transaction took place was that it was connected to fraudulent evasion of VAT.”
“(1) Why was [the taxpayer], a relatively small company with comparatively little history of dealing in mobile phones, approached with offers to buy and sell very substantial quantities of such phones? (2) How likely in ordinary commercial circumstances would it be for a company in [the taxpayer's] position to be requested to supply large quantities of particular types of mobile phone and to be able to find without difficulty a supplier able to provide exactly that type and quantity of phone. (3) Was [the taxpayer's supplier] already making supplies direct to other EC countries? If so, he could have asked why [the taxpayer's supplier] was not making supplies direct, rather than selling to UK traders who in turn would sell to such other countries. (4) Why are various people encouraging [the taxpayer] to become involved in these transactions? What benefit might they be deriving by persuading [the taxpayer] to do so? Why should they be inviting [the taxpayer] to join in when they could do so instead and take the profit for themselves?”
“[109] Examining individual transactions on their merits does not, however, require them to be regarded in isolation without regard to their attendant circumstances and context. Nor does it require the tribunal to ignore compelling similarities between one transaction and another or preclude the drawing of inferences, where appropriate, from a pattern of transactions of which the individual transaction in question forms part, as to its true nature e.g. that it is part of a fraudulent scheme. The character of an individual transaction may be discerned from material other than the bare facts of the transaction itself, including circumstantial and “similar fact” evidence. That is not to alter its character by reference to earlier or later transactions but to discern it. [111] Further in determining what it was that the taxpayer knew or ought to have known the tribunal is entitled to look at the totality of the deals effected by the taxpayer (and their characteristics), and at what the taxpayer did or omitted to do, and what it could have done, together with the surrounding circumstances in respect of all of them.”
"One strand of the cord might be insufficient to sustain the weight, but three stranded together may be quite of sufficient strength. Thus it may be in circumstantial evidence - there may be a combination of circumstances, no one of which would raise a reasonable conviction, or more than a mere suspicion: but the whole taken together, may create a strong conclusion of guilt, that is, with as much certainty as human affairs can require or admit of."
“Of course, we accept (as, we understand, does HMRC) that where the appellant asserts that there is an explanation (or several explanations) for the circumstances of a transaction other than a connection with fraud then it may be necessary for HMRC to show that the only reasonable explanation was fraud. As is clear from Davis & Dann , the FTT’s task in such a case is to have regard to all the circumstances, both individually and cumulatively, and then decide whether HMRC have proved that the appellant should have known of the connection with fraud. In assessing the overall picture, the FTT may consider whether the only reasonable conclusion was that the purchases were connected with fraud. Whether the circumstances of the transactions can reasonably be regarded as having an explanation other than a connection with fraud or the existence of such a connection is the only reasonable explanation is a question of fact and evaluation that must be decided on the evidence in the particular case. It does not make the elimination of all possible explanations the test which remains, simply, did the person claiming the right to deduct input tax know that, by his purchase, he was participating in a transaction connected with fraudulent evasion of VAT or should he have known of such a connection.”
“[37] In my judgment, there are likely to be many cases in which a participant in a sophisticated fraud is shown to have actual or blind-eye knowledge that the transaction in which he is participating is connected with that fraud, without knowing, for example, whether his chain is a clean or dirty chain, whether contra-trading is necessarily involved at all, or whether the fraud has at its heart merely a dishonest intention to abscond without paying tax, or that intention plus one or more multifarious means of achieving a cover-up while the absconding takes place. [38] Similarly, I consider that there are likely to be many cases in which facts about the transaction known to the broker are sufficient to enable it to be said that the broker ought to have known that his transaction was connected with a tax fraud, without it having to be, or even being possible for it to be, demonstrated precisely which aspects of a sophisticated multifaceted fraud he would have discovered, had he made reasonable inquiries. In my judgment, sophisticated frauds in the real world are not invariably susceptible, as a matter of law, to being carved up into self-contained boxes even though, on the facts of particular cases, including Livewire , that may be an appropriate basis for analysis.”
“… the holding of Moses LJ does not mean that the trader has to have the means of knowing how the fraud that actually took place occurred. He has simply to know, or have the means of knowing, that fraud has occurred, or will occur, at some point in some transaction to which his transaction is connected. The participant does not need to know how the fraud was carried out in order to have this knowledge. This is apparent from paras 56 and 61 o f Kittel cited above. Paragraph 61of Kittel formulates the requirement of knowledge as knowledge on the part of the trader that 'by his purchase he was participating in a transaction connected with fraudulent evasion of VAT'. It follows that the trader does not need to know the specific details of the fraud.”
“[81] It is regrettable that the FTT failed to appreciate the inferences which HMRC was inviting the FTT to make from the orchestrated and contrived nature of the fraud and the presence of fraudulent companies within the deal chains at issue in the appeal …. [82] Although, as for example at [140], when describing its conclusion that [the taxpayer] had no actual knowledge of fraud in the chains, the FTT stated that it had carefully considered all the evidence before it in reaching that conclusion, and that it had done so “because there was no evidence before us to show otherwise and no evidence laying a foundation from which such an inference could be drawn”, it is evident from how the FTT later addressed the question of orchestration and contrivance that it did not consider, or did not properly address, the evidence before it. Where there is evidence, and it is evidence from which the tribunal is invited to make an inference, the tribunal must address that question and explain its reasons either for drawing an inference or refusing to do so. It is not sufficient simply to say that there was no evidence. The failure by the FTT properly to address the submissions of HMRC by reference to the available evidence was an error of law.”
“(i) The test promulgated by the CJEU in Kittel was whether the taxpayer knew or should have known that he was taking part in a transaction connected with fraudulent evasion of VAT. (ii) Ultimately the question in every Kittel case is whether HMRC has established that the test has been met. The test is to be applied in accordance with the guidance given by the Court of Appeal in Mobilx and Fonecomp . (iii) It is not relevant for the FTT to determine whether the conduct alleged by HMRC might amount to dishonesty or fraud by the taxpayer, unless dishonesty or fraud is expressly alleged by HMRC against the taxpayer. If it is, then that dishonesty or fraud must be pleaded, particularised and proved in the same way as it would have to be in civil proceedings in the High Court. (iv) In all Kittel cases, HMRC must give properly informative particulars of the allegations of both actual and constructive knowledge by the taxpayer…”
“… the FTT’s task was to apply the impersonal standard of the reasonable businessman to the facts which it found, on the basis of the evidence which it heard, as to the circumstances in which S&I carried out the transactions in issue. Would the reasonable businessman have concluded that S&I ought to have known that the only reasonable explanation for the transactions was that they were connected with fraud?”
“It is clear from the guidance in S&I Electrical that we should seek to apply the standard of a reasonable businessman. However, our approach must also be informed by the evidence available about what the typical features of grey market trading were at the time. If the disputed transactions did not stand out against that backdrop then that is clearly relevant in determining whether Synectiv should have known that they were connected with fraud.”
“Nonetheless, the exercise of due diligence or the lack of due diligence can potentially be relevant. If the trader has not carried out due diligence in relation to a transaction, that might assist HMRC in showing that the trader knew or should have known that the transaction was connected with fraud. Conversely, if due diligence has been exercised by the trader, that fact might not be conclusive as to whether the trader did not know or should not have known that a transaction was connected with fraud; the due diligence might have been done as window dressing and there might be other evidence which established that the trader knew or should have known that the transaction was connected with fraud.”
“In the light of these considerations, the best approach for a judge to adopt in the trial of a commercial case is, in my view, to place little if any reliance at all on witnesses' recollections of what was said in meetings and conversations, and to base factual findings on inferences drawn from the documentary evidence and known or probable facts. This does not mean that oral testimony serves no useful purpose - though its utility is often disproportionate to its length. But its value lies largely, as I see it, in the opportunity which cross-examination affords to subject the documentary record to critical scrutiny and to gauge the personality, motivations and working practices of a witness, rather than in testimony of what the witness recalls of particular conversations and events. Above all, it is important to avoid the fallacy of supposing that, because a witness has confidence in his or her recollection and is honest, evidence based on that recollection provides any reliable guide to the truth.”
“We start by recalling that the judge read Leggatt J's statements in Gestmin v Credit Suisse and Blue v Ashley as an “admonition” against placing any reliance at all on the recollections of witnesses. We consider that to have been a serious error in the present case for a number of reasons. First, as has very recently been noted by HHJ Gore QC in CBX v North West Anglia NHS Trust [2019] 7 WLUK 57, Gestmin is not to be taken as laying down any general principle for the assessment of evidence. It is one of a line of distinguished judicial observations that emphasise the fallibility of human memory and the need to assess witness evidence in its proper place alongside contemporaneous documentary evidence and evidence upon which undoubted or probable reliance can be placed. Earlier statements of this kind are discussed by Lord Bingham in his well-known essay The Judge as Juror: The Judicial Determination of Factual Issues (from The Business of Judging, Oxford 2000). But a proper awareness of the fallibility of memory does not relieve judges of the task of making findings of fact based upon all of the evidence. Heuristics or mental short cuts are no substitute for this essential judicial function. In particular, where a party's sworn evidence is disbelieved, the court must say why that is; it cannot simply ignore the evidence.”
“141. The consideration which a court should give to the fact that a potentially relevant witness has not been called is well established. I can take the principles from the judgment of Brooke LJ in Wisniewski v Central Manchester Health Authority [1998] PIQR P324 at P340 where, having reviewed the authorities, he said: “From this line of authority I derive the following principles in the context of the present case: (1) In certain circumstances a court may be entitled to draw adverse inferences from the absence or silence of a witness who might be expected to have material evidence to give on an issue in an action. (2) If a court is willing to draw such inferences, they may go to strengthen the evidence adduced on that issue by the other party or to weaken the evidence, if any, adduced by the party who might reasonably have been expected to call the witness. (3) There must, however, have been some evidence, however weak, adduced by the former on the matter in question before the court is entitled to draw the desired inference: in other words, there must be a case to answer on that issue. (4) If the reason for the witness's absence or silence satisfies the court, then no such adverse inference may be drawn. If, on the other hand, there is some credible explanation given, even if it is not wholly satisfactory, the potentially detrimental effect of his/her absence or silence may be reduced or nullified.”
“If a prima facie case is made out, capable of being displaced, and if the party against whom it is established might by calling particular witnesses and producing particular evidence displace that prima facie case, and he omits to adduce that evidence, then the inference fairly arises, as a matter of inference for the jury and not a matter of legal presumption, that the absence of that evidence is to be accounted for by the fact that even if it were adduced, it would not displace the prima facie case. But that always presupposes that a prima facie case has been established; and unless we can see our way clearly to the conclusion that a prima facie case has been established, the omission to call witnesses who might have been called on the part of the defendant amounts to nothing.”
“Looking at the authorities from Blatch v. Archer (1774) 1 Cowp. 63 right up to Earle v. Eastbourne District Community Hospital [1974] V.R. 722 , it may be accepted that the effect of a party failing to call a witness who would be expected to be available to such a party to give evidence for such party and who in the circumstances would have a close knowledge of the facts on a particular issue, would be to increase the weight of the proofs given on such issue by the other party and to reduce the value of the proofs on such issue given by the party failing to call the witness.”
“In our legal system generally, the silence of one party in face of the other party's evidence may convert that evidence into proof in relation to matters which are, or are likely to be, within the knowledge of the silent party and about which that party could be expected to give evidence. Thus, depending on the circumstances, a prima facie case may become a strong or even an overwhelming case. But, if the silent party's failure to give evidence (or to give the necessary evidence) can be credibly explained, even if not entirely justified, the effect of his silence in favour of the other party may be either reduced or nullified.”
“The fact that Vision itself was new to the industry did not bother me. Businesses have always come and gone…What mattered about Vision was that Zulfi was on board and arranging the deals and Aziz had done enough business with Zulfi to regard him as a credible player.”
“Where Mr Chhatwal’s evidence conflicted with that of other witnesses, we have preferred the evidence of those other witnesses. Where it is unsupported by documentation, we have considered whether it is credible in the context of the available documents and our other findings of fact. That approach is, of course, also consistent with the more general advice given by Leggat J in Gestmin , and by Bingham J in the article cited above.”
“Traders were asked how Vision Sourcing was identified as a major supplier to DMC of printer ink and cartridges which DMC could not source from manufacturers or major distributors in the UK. Mr Cook responded that though, Vision Souring [sic] is a young company, DMC have worked with the director over many years through a previous supplier. Mr Cook advised further that, the director of Vision Sourcing branched out to set up his own business and DMC were happy to carry on trading with him as they have known him over many years.”
“DMC was not contacted by the seller. DMC had its own customers for particular trades and then sought suppliers who could meet those needs, in order than DMC could supply its customer.”