Looks like another new law is on the horizon that hasn't been properly thought through.
On the face of it the participation in organised crime offence seems quite sensible.
Then you start to dig and you see things such as the ablity to confiscate the accountants assets for the clients crimes on the assumption that the accountant must know about crimes commited by clients and so has benefited from them.
In short, guilt by association.
Could you hand on heart say that every invoice that goes through the accounts was legitimate? Of course not. We all believe that they are or we would report such under MLR but a criminal will take advantage of the fact that we do not do the accounts of the companies that they profess to do business with so we have no way of confirming such unless we start questioning every client and supplier.
In the accounts it states clearly that we prepare the accounts on the basis of the information supplied to us by the client.
I would not deal with anyone that I suspected of criminal activity but that does not preclude the fact that a criminal could pull the wool over my eyes the same as anyone elses.
Will this be another tax gathering law forced through under the guise of anti terrorist funding legislation? I think that it just might.
And on that question, under MLR the maximum prison sentence is 14 years and under the participation law it's 5 years in prison... As they are basically the same thing does this mean that MLR is now a maximum of 5 years but at a cost of the Government being able to steal all of your stuff, and your spouses and childrens stuff on the assumption that they are hiding the proceeds of the crime.
The biggest criminals running the the most serious form of organised crime (Extortion with menaces) would appear to be the UK Government.
Bah Humbug,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
There's a lot of stuff going on that doesn't get reported in the mainstream media, that is taking away our individual rights and freedoms, and handing power to the global corporations. Read up on the TTIP and TPP. There's more of it in today's Queen's Speech. Lots of minorities are being marginalised and scapegoated. Nonconformity and free thinking are now considered mental illnesses (themindunleashed.org/2013/11/nonconformity-and-freethinking-now.html). This seems part of a trend to push people into being wage slaves for the corporations where they can be controlled, and stifling creativity, innovation, protest, small businesses and anything else that gets in the way of this massive shift of power and wealth. If you don't work for a corporation, you're an underclass to be trampled on. I really hope that someone can convince me I'm wrong, and that 1984 isn't being used as a training manual rather than a warning.
That's why registering for MLR concerned me. Maybe not a bad thing on its own, but not so good when you consider everything else going on. What Shaun has written suggests that small accounting firms and us individuals are being targeted as part of this plan. Who in their right mind would risk losing everything because of an error, or misjudgement of a client? It would make PI insurance unaffordable, if it was still available.
So all the accounts work is done by the big accountancy firms, who charge prices that most small businesses can't afford. Those that can't afford it have to do their accounts themselves, because there are no independent book-keepers or accountants. They get them wrong and get into trouble, and go out of business. We end up with big corporations, largish companies who can afford to pay the big accounting firms, a few small businesses with a good accountant employed by them, and a massive black market of small businesses, made up of the people who don't fit into the corporate system and constantly looking over their shoulder waiting for the tax man to pounce.
the Guardian takes its usual view of things that all accountants / lawyers / bankers are bad people looking for ways to fleece the state to line their own pockets.
That papers generally about as wrong to the left of things as the daily mail is to the right of them.
Aweb are seeing the legislation for what it is and there's discussion building over there.
There is some truth in what you say but my impression is that rather than being some devious master plan the real issue is that those currently in power haven't really got a clue.
When we voted the conservatives in I really thought that we would get a conservative government who would sort out the 13 years of running the country into the ground.
For one they had spent years in opposition promising to repeal IR35. Ask yourself, has it disappeared... Like heck it has.
Instead of a conservative Government we seem to have just got a UKIP marketing department more concerned with American style popularity poles than actually doing anything constructive like telling Europe exactly where it can put things like yesterdays announcement from brussels that we are not paying enough council tax and such should be increased dramatically.
On that one at least some conservative back benchers suggested that anything received from Brussels should be sent directly to the Spam folder which I thought was at least very funny and if I knew who the back bencher was they would get my vote.
I may be far to the right of your position but I think that there are some things where our positions are not that far different.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
"Minister FOR modern slavery and organised crime Karen Bradley" - I think that proves my point about what's being planned for us! A Minister against such things would be more reassuring!
The links you posted don't look that bad, and make it look like a good idea, as does this one tinyurl.com/kfpbnjy at Money Laundering Compliance. But if it's based on the same rules as MLR, I imagine it will also catch out the businesses that buy a bit of dodgy goods that fell off the back of a lorry, even if inadvertently. So it is a worry, as even being caught up in an investigation that doesn't result in prosecution could do serious damage.
You may be right about politicians not having a clue, but whether they're deliberately evil, or just gormless, they're busy passing legislation that is against our interests. I was actually a Tory voter for far longer than I've not been one! Either they weren't as bad in those days, or it's because I hadn't yet discovered what the mainstream media doesn't report. I don't think my position has changed that much, but I just observed things that I wasn't aware of in the past, and I support parties who do stuff that looks after people, and the planet that provides our life support. I don't think left or right wing, capitalist or socialist is important, but observing what's going on, what effects it has, and what practical solutions there are to deal with it is important. I've also watched politics change from a battle between left wing and right wing policies (which I was never impressed with), to a marketing exercise where the main competitors outdo each other with fear and lies to con us into voting for them, so they can tear up their advertising and do what the hell they (or the lobbyists who influence them) like.
Newspapers and TV chanels report the same stories totally differently the two sides of the border.
I've spent a lot of time working in Scotland which has given me opportunity to see the same paper on the same day from two perspectives.
The story that jumps straight to mind is where in Scotland the people were being rabble roused about the oil revenues going to Westminster.
In England the headline was that for every 1p going from Scotland to Westminster 6p was gong in the other direction.
That really made the penny drop that newspapers tell the people what they want to hear because if they were not doing that they would not get any sales.
At the end of the day they are businesses trying to sell their wares, they are not public information services. (#1)
I'm sure that there was truth in both stories but it just reminded me of many years before being at Reading Festival and you would get miscreants walking through the crowd and would throw one empty can one way and one empty can the other. Next thing that you know the sky was black with cans as impromptu wars broke out.
The papers are like that guy walking down the middle of the crowd throwing the initial cans but with the added hope of being able to report what happens next.
I saw them over on Aweb taking the proverbial out of Karen bradleys new title.
The worrying thing is that the attitude just shows that nobody has any respect for Government anymore. It used to be that the Government represented the people but that feeling seems to have been totally lost amidst the spin.
Shaun.
#1 although I feel that the Times, Telegraph, Observer and FT are less guilty of that than others.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
