Bark&co

Tax

Giles Bark-Jones

Giles Bark-Jones has defended clients in many of the largest white-collar crime and fraud cases of recent times. His impressive track record and wide experience includes representing individuals in prosecutions and investigations brought by the SFO, the FCA, HMRC and other bodies. Giles’s track record includes the SFO investigation into Rolls-Royce, acting for a number of key individuals; R v Asil Nadir (an SFO prosecution involving allegations of theft from Polly Peck International); the Adoboli case (involving a US$2.3bn trading loss fraud at UBS); and R v F & ors, described by prosecution counsel as the ‘biggest case ever’ involving carbon trading fraud. Other recent highlights include acting for three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker in relation to criminal charges brought by the Insolvency Service following his bankruptcy, and acting for the Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus in connection with the Polly Peck/Asil Nadir case. On the tax side, Giles has a similarly impressive record including an appeal against a £60m+ conviction for alcohol tax evasion; a complex matter involving payroll companies that allegedly failed to pay tax on behalf of the companies for which they acted; and a £100m multijurisdictional matter described by KPMG and the Daily Telegraph as “one of the biggest direct tax frauds in UK history”. He also assisted a number of clients in National Crime Agency and SKAT investigations into a £1.5bn fraud against the tax authorities in a number of countries, and has defended in large-scale money laundering SFO investigations. Giles is an expert in serious general crime as well as criminal fraud, and his practice includes high-profile murder/manslaughter cases, sexual offences cases, and cases involving offences under anti-terrorism legislation.

Peter Finbow

Peter Finbow is a Senior solicitor at Bark & Co with over 20 years experience of defending clients in complex, high profile, and lengthy investigations and prosecutions brought by the SFO, FCA, HMRC, CPS, and Insolvency Service amongst others. He has also defended cases involving the HSE, NHS, Environment Agency, DEFRA, and Trading Standards. He has acted for clients in successful appeals to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. Peter has particular experience in defending financial and business crime cases involving fraud, tax offences, share dealing offences, money laundering, restraint and proceeds of crime proceedings.

Patricia Wilson

Pat is a criminal defence expert in white collar and business crime, general criminal defence including serious drugs offences, rape, murder and kidnap, and proceeds of crime offences. She has significant experience defending clients in serious and complex criminal cases facing charges brought by CPS, HMRC, SFO, FCA, The Pensions Regulator and Trading Standards. Pat has particular expertise in representing clients in POCA related matters concerning money laundering, confiscation, enforcement, restraint orders and asset forfeiture proceedings. ‘’Pat is extremely organised and clear in her instructions. She is always willing to go the extra mile to ensure the best possible outcome for her clients. She has worked on a number of high -profile cases but brings the same level of attention to detail to cases large and small. She has good knowledge of the law and doesn’t leave any stone unturned." Chambers & Partners 2021

Deals

Acting for the directors of an online platform in relation to various allegations of tax evasion, amounting to £132m+.
Acting for four individuals charged in relation to an alleged £20m+ Conspiracy to Cheat the Public Revenue, committed between January 2017 and March 2022, through a well-defined, highly sophisticated infrastructure set up and operated by an Organised Crime Group.
Acting for one of a number of individuals charged in relation to an alleged alcohol diversion fraud operated on a massive scale in 2009 and 2010 and valued at over £16m.

Team Services

Bark&co has over recent years developed considerable resources and strength in civil litigation of all types, alongside our work in the area of fraud and business crime, and this has included a concerted push in the area of tax litigation, focusing on VAT and excise duty cases.

On the civil side, we are well equipped to deal with a wide range of cases, including handling complex appeals both to the VAT and Duties Tribunals and to the courts (including via Judicial Review proceedings); responding to HMRC interventions, seizures and searches; and dealing with all types of tax investigations and enquiries, including handling negotiations with HMRC on behalf of a variety of clients. As well as civil tax litigation and investigations, our market-leading criminal team regularly acts in high-profile and very high-value criminal fraud cases involving tax evasion, for example by international alcohol and tobacco smuggling rings, and tax fraud (including some of the most notorious VAT/MTIC frauds). We are also very experienced in the POCA / confiscation proceedings that may follow on from such cases.

We consistently act in complex and cutting-edge cases, in both the civil and criminal spheres. Our track record includes acting in relation to Operation Amazon, concerning a scheme by which high-net-worth individuals invested in environmental projects – this was one of the largest and most complex direct tax frauds in British history, and involved a potential loss of £108m.