One client’s file had a note reading ‘Only telephone if desperate, say it’s Peter’s office, and he will call back from a public phone box’.
Accountant Peter Michel was cross-examined yesterday by Crown Advocate Cyril Whelan after taking the stand to give evidence in his trial on a charge of helping clients to hide money from the UK tax authorities.
Michel and his personal assistant, Simone Gallichan, are accused of helping three clients – Mark Allan, Bernadette Gills and Elsa Goncalves – to cheat the UK public revenue through a web of companies.
When asked earlier about the level of confidentiality at Michel and Co, Michel told the court that the approach was much the same as at a bank or solicitor’s office.
And when Advocate Whelan quizzed him about the secretive ‘phone box’ client, Michel said: ‘He is a French solicitor and those are his instructions.’
