Monmoham Singh Sandhu will be sentenced on February 16 at Southwark Crown Court after being convicted of false input tax claims through his Birmingham-based distribution company Bestline Data.

Customs investigations revealed that Sandhu bought and sold 400000 Nokia handsets and turned over 110 million between June and July 2001. Bestline claimed to have purchased the handsets from a UK company called MS Coton. It submitted what turned out to be a false input tax claim on the goods purchased from MS Coton.

However Sandhu had not paid any money to MS Coton. In his defence Sandhu claimed that MS Coton had instructed him to pay the cash directly to its suppliers in Luxembourg – Willcom and Handycom.

Customs later discovered unopened invoices from a company called MS Coton bearing Luxembourg postmarks and stamps.

At his trial between October 13 and 28 last year at Southwark Crown Court Customs asserted Sandhu was in possession of false purchase invoices.

Customs is also seeking a confiscation order for 6.6 million in assets and 9000 Nokia handsets worth 1.8 million.

In an interview with Mobile News Allwood said its 3G network was on a par with Vodafones and was some way ahead of O2 and T-Mobile.

Weve effectively got most of the sites we need doubling up on 2G sites he said.

Allwood said Orange already had 50 per cent population coverage around the UKs 10 major cities.

(Full interview p22)

Cellular Solutions boss Mike Bowers claims his engineers equipped 731 vehicles in November with a further 343 installations booked in during December.

Bowers is unhappy about the way he has been treated by O2. He said: Even initially the small print of the offer was unattractive from our point of view. We were expected in effect to take a 100 hit on every installation.

Subsequently he claims he has been kept waiting for the money while O2 audits the installations.

The deal was that wed receive our money at the month-end and any discrepancies would be sorted out he said. So far I havent received a penny of the money Im owed – some 50000.

According to Bowers (Cont P2) the network has asked for and received copies of all the contracts but still refuses to pay up promptly. He claimed payment for the 731 installations carried out in November but after carrying out its audit O2 offered to pay for just 247. Of this Bowers has yet to receive a penny.

It makes me wonder if O2 has run out of money on the new client acquisition trail said the dealer. But all these clients are SMEs and they are all being tied into a two-year contract for very little outlay from the network.

Other O2 dealers are understood to be worried about what they regard as network delaying tactics over other commission payments – particularly the re-sign bonus.

However a major distributor told Mobile News: Im not surprised that O2 is going through dealer claims with a fine-toothed comb. The way the car-kit promotion was put in place left it open to abuse. Some dealers are bound to try and exploit any loopholes they think theyve found. The network is only protecting its interests.

Ian Driver O2s general manager of channel marketing rebutted allegations of tardiness. Our intention is to pay our dealers as quickly as possible but we have to ensure that the customers are entitled to receive the car-kit offer and that they are satisfied with the installation before any final payments are made. We have an open dialogue policy with all our channel partners and will be happy to discuss the detail of any issues they raise.

Driver is unaware of any issues relating to the re-sign bonus scheme. Payments are not being delayed any longer than our normal processes allow but were happy to discuss the issue with any account in question. O2 will always pay commissions that are due and is fully funded to be able to do so.

Speculation that Caudwell might be ready to sell 20:20 grew after 20:20s trading name and handset trading business were transferred to a new company.

The move is part of a group restructuring following Caudwells sale of Singlepoint and Corporate 4U to Vodafone for 400 million last year. Caudwell told Mobile News:

20:20 is absolutely not for sale. This is just a restructuring to ensure the right companies report to the group managing director. We are always changing the structure to reflect the way the group looks he said.

Caudwell declined to go into detail on the structure of the new company following a statement that said a new equity team comprising three new shareholders had come into the business.

However Mark Ryan remains the new 20:20 Logistics managing director. The statement from 20:20 said the company had aggressive plans for expansion and development of the handset trading business and was aiming for significant (Cont P2) growth in 2004.

Another interesting fact that has not gone unnoticed is that the new 20:20 formerly a shell company known as K&S (511) Ltd and first registered in July 2003 has a new VAT number.

Caudwell assured Mobile News this was not a measure designed to protect the company in the event it were ever linked to a VAT or carousel fraud as part of Customs and Excises recent crackdown on the practice. He further added:

The company [formerly 20:20 Logistics now renamed K&S (511) Ltd] will remain a part of the Caudwell Group and is not being liquidated. I have personally spearheaded the attack against carousel fraud by getting Customs and Excise more and more focused on it and bringing together a think-tank on the issue.

I met with Customs and Excise five or six years ago to put a code of conduct together to try and enable distributors to take greater checks to prevent carousel fraud.

We are not vulnerable [to carousel fraud] because the precautions we have taken over many years are so strong.

We would be the last people to be significantly caught in that way.

He went on to say: There is no skeleton reason behind this change. This is a simple restructuring to refocus the business. Other restructuring has taken place in the past and other group companies will be restructuring in the future.

The move is enabling me to spread my wealth with further employees. I created the millionaire scheme for Phones 4U employees and I am permanently looking for ways to spread wealth among Caudwell employees to produce even greater wealth [for the company] through [staff] ownership and enhanced motivation.

Thomas has been reappointed as a company director and is now looking at new investment opportunities and would not rule out the possibility of floating his new company mobile helpline firm Talk Me Through It.

PNC is a non-trading shell company after selling KJC Mobile Phones and PNC Telecom services to

Vanguard in April 2003 for 2.5 million. The companys shares have been relisted on the Aim market.

Thomas lodged the High Court action in December claiming former PNC chief executive Ian Gray had been wrong to put the company into administration in the first place.

On January 15 a High Court judge overturned the administration order paving the way for the companys shares to begin trading.

Former PNC directors Ian Gray and John Peet and company secretary David Bradfield have all resigned from the company. Nigel Etherington is PNCs new company secretary. David Till has been appointed as a non-executive director.

Thomas would not confirm whether he had plans to use PNC as a vehicle to float Talk Me Through It saying he was considering a number of options.

A delighted Thomas who has been battling for over a year to take control of PNC told Mobile News:

The administration should never have been granted in the first place. The High Court judge questioned the administrators claims for putting the company into administration and has ordered it to pay its costs.

PNC is a cash shell with a million pounds. We will be looking at opportunities to invest into the shell. Talk Me Through It has started extremely well and is an option.

The sale is being handled by Leeds Business advice firm WBS Corporate Finance.

Industry sources reckon that the two prime candidates for a sale are Advanced Communications in Leeds or onestopphoneshop.com in Cheshire.

However Advanced Communications managing director Wasim Nazir denied this saying:

We are not for sale. We are expanding our business and looking to acquire.

Onestopphoneshop.com Sales and marketing director Lee Morris said: We are not actively looking to sell. However we would always consider selling if an acceptable offer was made.

Morris confirmed the companys turnover was around 16 million

Anyone doing around 6000 connections per month will turn over around 16 million. Other businesses out there do similar levels of business.

E2save.com founders Bobbie

Bhogal and Mike Liverton will stay with the business for two years to ensure a smooth handover.

There are no immediate plans to rebrand the business as The Carphone Warehouse already has a successful online business and doesnt want its brand associated with off-the-page sales.

Chris Murton MD of The Carphone Warehouses UK online and insurance business warned there may be a number of redundancies within e2saves logistics department.

Most of the 90 staff will be absorbed within existing Carphone Warehouse operations. E2saves business had an annual turnover of around 5 million.

According to Murton:

The purchase of e2save.com is important for The Carphone Warehouse because it allows us (Cont P2) to enter the off-the-page market for the first time with a very strong branded proposition.

Murton said that The Carphone Warehouse had been looking at e2save for some time.

It is a solid company with a well-established brand in both the off-the-page and online arena. It had a similar customer approach and gets us into the off-the-page market where we have not been represented at all. It delivered high quality customers.

He also confirmed that Bhogal and Liverton will run the business for another two years with minimum interference.

According to Murton the acquisition will allow the retail chain to grow its online business faster.

It is one of the fastest growing areas of the business. Being part of the Carphone Warehouse group will enable us to bring efficiencies to the business he said.

There will be opportunities for us to broaden the range by potentially offering services such as pre-pay TalkTalk and Fresh through e2save.

A Hawk spokesman said: We have not been given any details of the investigation or details of any individuals or companies suspected of trading fraudulently.

We have asked Customs for these details so we can take appropriate measures. Our internal checks have given no indication of any irregularities. Both employees are back at work.We cooperated with Customs and Excise and will continue to do so during this current investigation. We support activities in stamping out fraudulent trade from this sector.

The spokesman declined to identify the individuals or confirm whether they were directors.

Customs interest in facilitators is a new development. Previous investigations have been confined to traders in mobile phones.

One freight company insider said: The situation is grave. Customs is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. A few months ago around 25 people were arrested on one day in connection with VAT and carousel fraud. All were released without charge. Reputable companies help in the fight against crime. False arrests are going to have a serious impact on the credibility of these companies. If customers lose confidence some businesses could fail. But Customs doesnt care.

A Customs spokesman told Mobile News: We only carry out arrests when there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence has been committed.

He is currently going through the formalities of severing his ties with Vodafone before taking up the new post. He relinquished the sales and distribution role at Vodafone last August after the sale of Singlepoint to the Newbury-based network.

Brewer declined to comment on his new role as Cable and Wireless had not made an official announcement. However the ex-Eircell boss made no secret of the fact that he was looking to return to running a network.

He told Mobile News last August that his aspiration was to run an overseas venture. He also saw himself as a mentor to a national company where foreigners are not able to hold the top job.

Id like to run a business in which I own the nuts and bolts and control the profit and loss. I miss being a CEO and owning the total experience from the customers to the people who work there he said at the time.

The FTI represents 55 computer and mobile phone traders. FTI solicitor Bob Holland called for a further 32000 from FTI members to challenge the legislation.

We needed 64000 to mount this action. We have received half this. Joint and several VAT legislation is contrary to European VAT law. But we have to start legal proceedings here in the UK. If we are successful we may get permission from the High Court to take the case to Europe.

He went on: If Customs wins this hearing the High Court will refuse us permission to take our case to Europe. Our case would end. Even so we will ask the European Commission to examine the way that the legislation is being applied in the UK because we feel it is unfair.

Only four judges are qualified to try this kind of case. But we wouldnt have proceeded if we didnt feel we had good prospects to succeed.