R v Chahal and another

Sentence – Confiscation order. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, dismissed the defendants' appeals against confiscation orders made pursuant to s 6 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, following their conviction of a conspiracy to cheat the public revenue through 'MTIC' fraud. The fraud involved the repayment of VAT on the export of goods. The court rejected the defendants' contention that the loss to the Revenue and Customs Commissioners was the aggregate of the amounts claimed by the exporter, and that that was the benefit for the purposes of ss 10 and 76 of the Act. Further, the court held that the way in which the judge had dealt with benefit had not had a disproportionate effect for the purposes of art 1 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights.