S
imilarities were found by Customs investigators between a business which supplied boats to drug smugglers and a company set up by a Butterwick man, a court has been told.
When the finances of Nautexco Marine, set up by Ian Rush, of Brand End Road, were examined in detail by an expert, it was revealed that Rush and the other business had shared suppliers in the UK and customers in Spain.
Forensic accountant Jeremy Outen told Ipswich Crown Court, where Rush is on trial, that while he found no evidence of money laundering, there were concerns about four nautical agencies in Spain with which Nautexco Marine had dealt.
Those businesses had been implicated, following an investigation into the affairs of the Lowestoft company Crompton Marine, in the supply of high speed, radar-evading boats to drug smugglers operating between North Africa and Spain.
Crompton Marine had supplied boats to those agencies, said Mr Outen, before its owners Richard Davison and Ellen George, were arrested in March 2004 as part of an alleged money-laundering operation.
HM Revenue and Customs claim that Rush's business, Nautexco Marine, was set up to take over from where Crompton Marine had been forced to leave off.
Rush, 43, had previously been friends with Davisonand George and between 1998 and 2004 had helped to deliver boats for them to customers in southern Europe while being fully aware of the intended use for the craft, the court was told by Simon Draycott QC, prosecuting.
HM Revenue and Customs allege that the boats had been stripped of all unnecessary fittings and adapted to travel at high speeds and be uncatchable by Spanish police vessels, even though they were carrying heavy loads of cannabis.
The court was told by Mr Outen how a tangled web of money transfers had taken place between Davison, George and companies in Spain and Gibraltar for which the records kept failed to adequately account for the source of the money, much of it having been paid into bank accounts in cash.
Rush has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to retain the proceeds of drug smuggling and conspiracy to acquire criminal property.
The trial continues.
2 comments:
That story is lies...... follow it up in the news..... i suggest to make a sucessful website you display stories of truth! :-)
thnks
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