Athena Forensics were instructed by the Solicitors acting for an individual who had been jointly charged with Fraud and was alleged to have concealed the true extent of goods imported into the UK, thereby evading the payment of VAT on those imports.
The Defendant was a Director of the company and a signatory to many important categories of documents, including VAT returns to HMRC.
The Defendant denied the allegations and claimed to be unaware of the activities that were alleged.
An examination of the company server was conducted by an Athena Forensic computer forensic expert and that examination resulted in the identification of email communication between 2 co-Directors of the company. Those emails included evidence to suggest that they had copied the Defendant’s signature from a document and then used that copy to be placed on various company documents, including financial records to HMRC. This evidence was then accepted by the Prosecution.
After three weeks of Prosecution evidence during a jury Trial, the Defendant was acquitted before the Defence opened their case, based upon the findings of the evidence produced within the Athena Forensics computer forensic examination report.
