CPS promises crackdown on 'tax efficient' investment schemes

The Crown Prosecution Service is to ramp up investigations into middle-class professionals evading tax, as part of proposals to be outlined tomorrow.

It plans a five-fold increase in the number of files it investigates, along with the number of convictions, which stood at 200 in 2010. In an interview with the Financial Times, chief prosecutor Kier Starmer said advisers who recommend such schemes - and those who invest in them - would form a central part of the CPS's strategy for the foreseeable future. "There have been some cases involving lawyers, some involving tax consultants, and plumbers," he said. "Within the ramped-up volume, it is intended that we will select cases to send a clear message as to the breadth of our coverag...