THE STRANGE CASE OF THE DEAD BRITON AND 16 BILLION
YEN IN MISSING WINNINGS
16 October 2009
Here's a story that could form the basis for
a great novel!
Predictive software that generated horseracing wins of
16 billion yen; a mysterious Briton who slipped away
despite surrendering his passport; frustrated Japanese
taxmen and a well timed death look like the ingredients
for a great whodunnit novel, but according to the Asahi
Shimbun its reality all the way.
The Japanese
newspaper reported the case this week of an unnamed
British man who used sophisticated predictive software
to win some 16 billion yen on Tokyo horse races, failed
to declare the rewards to the taxman and then vanished
before officials could lay charges, arrest him and seize
the cash.
The man, believed to have been a Hong
Kong resident, has since been reported by the
Tokyo-based data analyzing and consulting company UPRO
that he led.... as dead! Furthermore, it is claimed that
the wins were made in his personal capacity and noone
has any idea where all that loot could be since it was
transferred offshore and out of the reach of the Tokyo
Regional Taxation Bureau.
The allegedly deceased
Briton appears to have been at least one step ahead of
the tax authorities in the case. Following a tax audit
initiated in 2008 on suspicions that UPRO had failed to
report taxable income under Japanese corporate tax law,
the missing Briton was required to hand in his passport.
But it appears he immediately reported the travel
document lost and obtained a new one...which he clearly
used to good effect as the tax net closed around him.
According to the tax authorities, UPRO has been
ordered to pay 6 billion yen in back taxes and
penalties, but it is disputing this. The tax bureau has
only been able to seize about 2 billion yen of the
company assets, but sources told the Asahi Shimbun that
it will be difficult to recover the remainder which the
taxman claims is owed.
The newspaper points out
that the failure of the tax gatherers shows that without
the filing of a criminal complaint, tax officials are
powerless to stop transfers of money overseas or prevent
tax cheats from leaving Japan.
The UPRO software
used by the missing Briton to make his big wins has not
been identified, but apparently predicts the outcome of
horse races, on which the Briton bet hundreds of
millions of yen and consistently picked the winners. The
wagering especially exploited the high-return Trifecta
betting system, which involves correctly selecting the
order of the three top finishing horses.
The
computer program ranked, in order of probability, the
finishing combinations of races in Japan, and bets were
then placed - small bets on horses given the highest
odds, and large sums on horses given the best odds to
win.
In terms of a tax agreement between Japan
and Britain, UK tax authorities may share information
with their Japanese counterparts, but they may not take
a British national into custody overseas, or seize that
person's assets, over a case in Japan.
Online Casino News Courtesy of
Infopowa
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