The Winebox Inquiry Twenty Years On

Abstract

This article provides a reflection and review of the controversial Commission of Inquiry into Certain Matters Relating to Taxation (Winebox Inquiry) with a purpose of considering whether the Commission’s conclusions (absolving the European Pacific Investments group, which formed part of the wider European Pacific Group, of culpability and vindicating Inland Revenue and the Serious Fraud Office) would be different under the current law relating to evasion, avoidance and minimisation. It is divided into five sections. The first section provides an introduction and the direction taken in the analysis. The second section reviews the Winebox Inquiry, including the political and economic climate, the taxpayers involved, the transactions, the Commission’s decisions, and the subsequent litigation. The third section considers the development of the law relating to evasion, avoidance and minimisation over the last 20 years. That review is followed (in section 4) by consideration of the transactions in light of these developments, providing an opinion as to whether the Commission would have been likely to change its conclusions if the Winebox Inquiry was carried out in the present. The fifth and final section concludes this reflection and review, while also identifying limitations encountered and areas for future research.