Imagine if a corporation used its reputation to steer its customers to a business run by criminals who then stole thousands from them. Imagine that the corporation, despite having discovered that the business was a criminal front not only did nothing to help the customers it had steered there, but actually continued to advertise the criminals’ business, meaning even more of their customers were scammed. Then, imagine that the corporation had the audacity to demand that the victims of the scam pay it for the privilege of having lost their money.
It probably seems unbelievable that something like that could happen in real life and, if it did, the authorities would surely come down on the corporation with the full weight of the law, wouldn’t they?
Now, replace the word ‘corporation’ with ‘Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ and you have a real-life abuse of power in which the authorities not only didn’t come down on the criminals involved, but facilitated and sought to benefit from their crimes.
HMRC had produced lists of companies that people wanting to cash in their pensions could use. Unfortunately, they did this without any checking of whether the companies were legitimate or not, and, whilst the list was intended only to be informational, rather than an endorsement, the way it was presented led many people to believe that the list was just that, an endorsement, that the companies had been vetted. Worse, even after they had learnt that some of the companies they had listed were actually scams, HMRC not only failed to alert those who had already handed over their pension pots, but actually continued to list them.
Let that sink in for a moment: Despite knowing people were taking their list as an endorsement of these companies, HMRC continued to include known scams, meaning more people handed over their money.
Still, they were there for the victims in the end, weren’t they? Of course not!
None of the criminals involved have been punished and the victims are without their pensions. But, worse, in some cases, HMRC decided to bill people for 40% of the lost money on the grounds that the withdrawals were liable to tax. Yes, the withdrawals by criminals that HMRC facilitated through its inaction…
So, somehow, HMRC not only managed to evade responsibility for its part in the loss of peoples’ pensions, but is also trying to profit from it! How can this be legal? Why has no-one been punished for what was, at best, gross negligence, or, at worst, a criminal act? Something is very definitely rotten in the heart of the British tax system…
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