The Judge RANTS!

Date: 03/08/11

To The Brazen-Necked, Everything Is Brass

Interesting story in the press today, listing what are purported to be the UK's Ten Most Wanted Fraudsters™.

What is truly interesting about it to me, though, is this quote:

"Lord Ashcroft, founder and Crimestoppers chairman, said: "This is not a victimless crime. Every single one of us is paying higher taxes, bank charges and insurance fees because of fraud.""

Erm...hold on a comma...

Lord Ashcroft?

You mean this Lord Ashcroft?:

"By keeping non-dom status Lord Ashcroft avoided paying tens of millions of pounds in tax in the UK while sitting in the Lords and still bankrolling the Conservatives. In 2005 he said he had given "well in excess of £10m" to the party."

Or this Lord Ashcroft?:

"Fresh concerns about Lord Ashcroft emerged tonight when he was accused of "systematic tax avoidance" by exploiting his offshore status to avoid paying VAT on opinion polls he commissioned for the Conservatives."

Or this Lord Ashcroft, mayhap?:

"Lord Ashcroft, the Conservative donor and outgoing deputy party chairman, has been accused of avoiding more than £3m in tax by engaging in a financial manoeuvre the day before new legislation would have forced him to pay tax on all his income."

So "every single one of us" is paying more tax because of a handful of dodgy dealers, eh, M'Lord?. Are you sure about that, M'Lord? Do they operate in Belize as well, M'Lord?

"Every single one of us"? Or just those who don't have the shyster accountants and the balls of the government in their hands?

A small piece of advice to the medical profession: keep an oxyacetylene torch to hand, just in case this dodgy, dodging parasite ever needs surgery on his neck.

File under: Politics