By James Simons-
A solicitor behind an eco-investment tax scam has been ordered to repay over £3m or face another decade behind bars.
Rodney Whiston-Dew, 68, has been given three months to pay the huge fine after being jailed in 2017 for his part in a green investment scam used to steal £20m of investors’ money. Whiston-Dew and five other men, including an Etonian son of a judge, were imprisoned for duping wealthy individuals to invest in fake environmental projects, described at the time as one of the biggest.Jonathan Anwyl, 46 is the disgraced son of a judge who succumbed to the influence of environmental scientist and Cambridge graduate Michael Richards, 55, in signing up 730 celebrities, including comedians, sports stars and relatives of politicians.
Whiston-Dew was an experienced solicitor used as a general counsel to the scheme, ’in particular to deal with the parts which were too dishonest to be shown to any honest solicitor’. He personally evaded at least £2,174,330,in tax.
All the victims of the dodgy gang were conned into believing they were investing in cutting-edge research and development reforestation projects in Brazil and China.Michael Richards, the fraud kingpin, masterminded the creation of trade Carbon Emission Reduction Certificates, which help countries hit environmental emissions targets set by the United Nations. He was assisted by entrepreneur Gold of Dubai, described in court as Richards’ bulldog and negotiator who ensured the fraudulent deals actually took place. Gold fraudulently diverted money from the scheme to purchase properties in the UK and Dubai for himself.
After securing £65m the group siphoned the large sums through via bank accounts and secret trusts, and spent on luxury properties in London, Australia and Dubai. In 2017, Whiston-Dew was convicted of a conspiracy to cheat the public revenue in relation to his personal tax liability. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. On Friday, a judge at the Old Bailey ordered him to pay £3,035,192.97 within three months or face an additional nine years in prison.
Michael Richards, the fraud kingpin, masterminded the creation of trade Carbon Emission Reduction Certificates, which help countries hit environmental emissions targets set by the United Nations. He was assisted by entrepreneur Richard Gold, described in court as Richards’ bulldog and negotiator who ensured the fraudulent deals actually took place. Gold fraudulently diverted money from the scheme to purchase properties in the UK and Dubai for himself. Rodney Whiston-Dew – a solicitor – set up the complex offshore structures to disguise the true nature of the fraud and hide the money, none of which was declared to HMRC.
The other group members were environmentalist and business consultant Anwyl and 78-year-old former music industry executive and ex-banker Evdoros Chrysanthos Demetriou. Whiston-Dew was jailed for 10 years; Richards for 11 years; and Demetriou for six years. A sixth man, Malcolm Gold, pleaded guilty to a charge of cheating the public revenue in November 2016 and was sentenced to 20 months in prison in January 2017
A spokesperson from the CPS told The Eye Of Media.Com: ‘Whiston has assets from the proceeds of his crime from which he can pay the £3m fine so will be expected to instruct someone to pay it on his behalf. If after the stipulated 3 months he does not pay the fine, he will have to spend an extra ten years in jail. However, if he pays the fine before the ten years is up, he will be released at that point.