Gambian Embassy ''Turned into Tobacconists in £5m Duty Free Scam''

Source from:  Daily Telegraph 11/17/2014

The Gambian embassy in London was 'turned into a tobacconists', with customers queuing up outside after a senior diplomat began £5m duty-free scam, a court heard.

The diplomat who allegedly oversaw the tobacco racket that cheated the British taxpayer out of millions of pounds admitted he was happy to take profit wherever it came from.

Yusupha Bojang, 54, the Deputy Head of the Gambian Diplomatic Mission in Kensington, and his colleagues allegedly ordered 32 metric tonnes of tax-free rolling tobacco in just three years.

They abused a scheme which granted duty-free style tax exemption on goods for personal use and used delivery drivers to send them more than half a million 50g pouches, it was said.

In some cases they were ordering tobacco worth more than their annual salary but there is no evidence the eight defendants even smoked, Southwark Crown Court heard.

The embassy was turned into a tobacconists with customers queuing up outside, the court heard.

Deliveries to the Gambian High Commission were usually taken and signed for by Audrey Leeward, 48, who sat on the front desk, it is said.

Rolling tobacco, unlike alcohol and cigarettes, had no quota limit for the amount the embassy could order at the time of the alleged offences.

Bojang emphatically denied ordering thousands of pounds worth of the high-value tobacco and insisted he knew nothing about the orders in his name. He told jurors he had no idea how much Leeward was ordering or how much money he made from the scam.

But orders worth thousands of pounds were placed in his name and appear to show his signature, the court heard.

Witness Christopher Pelc worked as a driver at the time of the allegations and delivered huge quantities of tobacco to the Mission in Kensington.

Boxes crammed with pouches of Golden Virginia and Old Holborn tobacco, were collected by Mr Pelc on behalf of International Diplomatic Supplies Ltd (IDS).

He collected the high-value tobacco from the London City Bond Warehouse in Tilbury, Essex, before driving it to the Mission and leaving it in a 'back room'.

Over the three year period the eight defendants collectively ordered or were invoiced for in excess of 530,000 50g pouches, it is said.

Prosecutor Jane Bewsey QC said there was 'systematic abuse' of the privileges granted to Diplomatic Missions and their staff based in the UK to order goods free from excise duty and VAT.
The 'commercial' scale scam led to a loss to the taxpayer of just short of £4.8m over three years, jurors heard.

Four of the defendants were employed as diplomatic staff and were therefore entitled to enjoy the tax-break on goods such as alcohol, perfume and tobacco for personal use.

They were Bojang, First Secretary Gaston Sambou, 48, finance attache Ebrima John, 38, and welfare officer Georgina Gomez, 29.

Co-defendants and staff members receptionist Leeward, secretary Hasaintu Noah, 60, and driver Veerahia Ramarajaha, 54, were locally employed and therefore not entitled to the privileges.
Eighth defendant Ida Njie, 42, was employed by the Gambian Tourist Authority whose offices were in the same building as the High Commission.

She was not employed by the Gambian Mission and accordingly she should not have enjoyed any diplomatic privileges, the court heard.

Jurors were told that diplomatic immunity did not apply in this case and all the defendants were subject to UK law.

Bojang, of Loughton, Essex; Gomez of Newham, east London; John, of Kensington, west London; Leeward, of Croydon, southeast London; Njie, of Slough; Noah, of Wimbledon, southwest London; and Sambou, of Edgware, Middlesex all deny a single charge of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue.

Ramarajaha, Harrow, Middlesex, denies conspiracy to cheat the public revenue and a further charge of harbouring dutiable goods.

The trial continues. Enditem