Gambian diplomats convicted in UK embassy tobacco racket

A group of Gambian diplomats were convicted on today for ordering 26 tonnes of tobacco supposedly for personal consumption to then sell it illegally from their London embassy to queues of buyers.
Yusupha Bojang, the deputy head of the Gambian Diplomatic Mission in London, and his six co-defendants were found guilty of cheating the British state out of USD 7.5 million in unpaid tax over a three-year period.
They used the diplomatic status of four of the defendants to import commercial quantities of rolling tobacco tax-free to Britain, bringing in more than half a million 50g pouches.
A delivery driver who gave evidence during their trial at London's Southwark Crown Court described seeing people queue up outside the building, apparently buying the pouches.

The tax-free rates would have been permissible if the tobacco was for personal use but prosecutors said few if any of the defendants smoked themselves.
For the sales, the tobacco should have been subject to British VAT and excise duties.

Bojang, first secretary Gaston Sambou, welfare officer Georgina Gomez and finance attache Ebrima John, who all had diplomatic privileges, were found guilty of conspiracy to cheat the revenue along with three other embassy workers, Veerahia Ramarajaha, Audrey Leeward and Hasaintu Noah.
The cost of tobacco orders made by individual defendants in a year often exceeded the value of their entire annual income from the Gambian mission.

Lisa Rose, specialist fraud prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said the operation was "like running a business".
"The deception undertaken by these defendants involved a serious breach of the trust of their own government and of the British people," Rose said.
She added that the defendants had "abused their diplomatic status, taking advantage of the entire system of diplomatic privilege which is reliant on trust and responsibility."
Rose thanked the Gambian government for waiving diplomatic immunity to allow the trial to go ahead, in what she described as an "unusual" case.