Case News from Bark & Co

VO vs HMRC We successfully represented Mr Vahit Oktar in Operation Albany at Bristol Crown Court. This was a large-scale operation involving an international investigation into allegations of money laundering with elements of VAT fraud. Our client, who was one of 9 accused of facilitating a complex multi-million pound money laundering operation, stood trial over… Read more »

Bark&co are happy to report that in the case of R v Frederick Parr and Others (prosecuted by the Information Commissioners Office (“ICO”)) that the prosecution has today decided to offer no evidence against our client and all other co-Defendants. The case was heard at Warwick Crown Court. Mr. Frederick Parr first came to Bark&co… Read more »

R v Waqas ASLAM & 14 Ors [Operation Banjax] 2019 – Southwark Crown Court The case was an MTIC Fraud which was part and parcel of Import Duty Diversion on Beers, Wines and Spirits. According to HMRC the OCG were accountable for significant losses to the UK Exchequer through associated large scale VAT and Excise… Read more »

Bark&co were successful in an application to set aside an Account Freezing Order (“AFO”) against our client. The case originally started on 1st May 2019 when Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (“HMRC”) applied to freeze the bank account of our client, W. Ltd, under s.303Z1 Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“POCA 2002”), on the basis… Read more »

Our client was acquitted of murder and manslaughter at the Old Bailey on 11th February 2019. Mr Umezie was accused of stabbing Sidique Kamara to death, after an altercation in which the deceased and another assailant robbed Mr Umezie for his Cartier watch. Mr Umezie successfully raised self-defence, in that he disarmed the deceased of… Read more »

Former Nigerian International & Premier League footballer Sam Sodje was found not guilty of all allegations of money laundering in the Central Criminal Court on 21st January 2019. He was represented by Peter Finbow and Dean Armstrong QC of 36 Bedford Row. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-46946503 https://news.sky.com/story/sodje-scandal-sporting-brothers-jailed-for-africa-charity-fraud-11613619

The case of Patryk Lewicki v Polish Judicial Authority was heard at the Administrative Court on 26th September 2018 before Mrs Justice Whipple. Laura Herbert from Charter Chambers was instructed by Magdalena Motyl. We successfully argued that due to the short sentence remaining to be served in Poland it would be a disproportionate breach of… Read more »

On Monday 8th July 2018, following a successful appeal against the Extradition Order issued by the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, in the case of Gumieniczek v Poland, the High Court quashed the Order for Extradition and the client was immediately released. Our challenge was based on the aggregation of the sentence with non-extradition offences, a point… Read more »

We are proud to announce that we have been ranked in Chambers and Partners High Net Worth Guide for Financial Crime. Chambers and Partners noted “Bark&co is well regarded for its criminal fraud practice and the team has great experience defending high net worth clients in high-profile financial crime litigation cases. “They’re very knowledgeable in the… Read more »

We successfully represented SH who was charged with being party to a large scale International Fraud against a number of Film Rental Equipment Companies who were based across the Globe. The Fraud was organised from the UK where the Organised Crime Group assumed the identities of some legitimate businesses in the industry. They were able… Read more »