Why is missing trader intra-community (MTIC) fraud particularly difficult to prosecute?
Missing trader intra-community (MTIC) fraud poses some very particular challenges to the prosecutor. These challenges include: • long and complex investigations • trials involving multiple defendants • vast amounts of potentially relevant material held by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, much of which has to be sifted by investigators in order to comply with their responsibilities with regard to the disclosure of evidence • the same companies featuring in several cases simultaneously, creating obvious overlaps and cross-disclosure issues • cases relying on documentation, produced by companies that are themselves suspect, to prove transactions • the most common defence being that the individual being prosecuted was an innocent businessman used by others – this is often accompanied by requests for disclosure of any material that points to the knowledge of the fraud by any of those companies involved in that defendant’s trading chains • evidence being required often from foreign jurisdi
