Two accountants from an Isle of Man tax planning company have been cleared of cheating the UK taxman out of a million pounds.
Edward Watkin Gittins and Martin Calcutt were both charged in August last year with abusing charity tax relief between 2004 and 2009.
Both were directors of Douglas-based Montpelier Tax Consultants, which was raided in 2010 by police as HMRC investigated more than 650 of its clients who had used one of its tax schemes to save more than ?90 million.
But a fortnight into their trial at Liverpool Crown Court, the prosecution dropped the case after evidence from a witness.
The trial at Liverpool Crown Court ended with the prosecution offering no further evidence and asking the judge to direct the jury to acquit the pair.
Both men were found not guilty.
Afterwards, the Crown Prosecution Service said it had been right to take the case to court, adding when the men were charged last year it was thought there was sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.
But the CPS added in light of new evidence, it had dropped the case – noting there’d been no criticism from the judge for doing so.