British criminals based on the Costa del Sol are known to be involved in the fraud, taking up to £25,000 a week off the taxpayer.BHS’s dispute with Customs began last summer when Customs carried out a nationwide exercise to halt the fraud. Supply chains were checked back to the goods’ point of entry into the UK from the EU, mostly from Ireland and Spain. At the same time, VAT repayments claimed by traders were also withheld.A large amount of mobile phone fraud is located around Stoke-on-Trent, where 400 Customs officers have been deployed. Despite publicity surrounding ongoing trials, local sources claim that businessmen are still being recruited to take part in the scam.Last month, the Chancellor announced he would be giving Customs draconian powers to combat VAT fraud. All traders in a supply chain will now be held liable if any one of them evades or is thought likely to evade VAT.. Ryanair, the low-cost airline run by Michael O’Leary, is to be taken to the European Court over alleged “illegal aid” it receives from local authorities in France. It is filing a complaint for unfair competition and illegal state subsidies with the European Court, and expects the case to be heard in June.Ryanair has become notorious in Europe for what it secures from local authorities for operating in regional airports.

The funding, which usually includes substantial reductions in handling and airport charges, is provided by the local chambers of commerce and tourist boards.Ryanair is already receiving €1.5m a year for its London-Strasbourg route, which it has operated since October, and is set to receive €700,000 for its newly launched route to Clermont-Ferrand. But the airline has come under attack from French regional competitors.”Ryanair’s arrival in Pau was not open to competitors, which is clearly against European law,” said Air M?terran?s chief executive, Antoine Ferretti. “If Ryanair continues to operate with the same benefits we will not be able to stay afloat.”Air M?terran?is the second French airline to file a complaint to the European authorities about Ryanair. Air France’s regional subsidiary, Brit Air, recently failed in the French courts to suspend Ryanair’s activities in Strasbourg, but is now pursuing its complaint with the European Commission.But Air M?terran? backed by Brit Air, claims the terms of the offer made to Ryanair in effect exclude competitors, as it was open only to “a low-cost airline, linking southern and northern Europe, with passenger numbers exceeding 60,000 a year”.Brit Air’s chief executive, Alain Huberdeau, said the airline was confident the European Courts would rule in its favour. Brit Air is in the process of suspending all flights on its London-Strasbourg route this month after reporting 50 per cent profit losses since Ryanair’s arrival.”There is no doubt in our mind that these sums qualify as illegal state subsidies,” M. Huberdeau said.Ryanair is already being investigated by the European Commission on account of its operations at Charleroi airport, outside Brussels, where it is alleged to have benefited from illegal state aid through reductions in handling and airport charges.The company has consistently denied the allegation. “We expect a fast and positive response from the European Commission over the Charle-roi allegations, and from any action undertaken by French competitors,” said a spokes-man for Ryanair..

The new owner of two of the City’s most famous bars – Ryan’s and The Arbitrageur – is a Liberal Democrat politician and former liquidator who was fined for malpractice by accountancy regulators. He was ordered to pay a £3,000 fine and £700 costs.Mr Yeldon resigned as a director from Smith & Williamson’s companies in October 2000. However, Smith & Williamson told The Independent on Sunday that Mr Yeldon officially left the firm in February 2001. Mr Yeldon said that his departure from the firm was unconnected to the reprimand and that he had left to run his own venture capital projects. He is now a liquidator at a small practice, Middleton Partners, and on his political website he claims to have been a “senior adviser” to the Russian government.Mr Yeldon, whose sister is Patsy Calton, Liberal Democrat MP for Cheadle, is now pursuing a political career and the future expansion of his Le Bar Group.However, a previous venture into the clubs and bars business ended in tragedy after a huge south London club he owned, called SE1, under London Bridge station, was the scene of an incident in June 2001 when two clubbers at the venue died from Ecstasy intoxication.After the incident, when Mr Yeldon, who had invested £300,000 in refurbishing the club, moved to get the licence renewed, police objected at the hearing.