Two accountants accused of devising a gift aid scheme to claim around £1m in gift aid from donations to the Vauxhall Adult Education Trust will appear at Liverpool Crown Court in December.

According to the Liverpool Echo, the alleged scam raked in around £1m of Treasury 5 per cent 2004 gilt-edged securities on donations to the Vauxhall Adult Education Trust.

Martin Calcutt, 59, and Edward Gittins, 63, appeared at the Old Bailey yesterday where lawyers asked for the case to be transferred to Liverpool Crown Court, as long as that court is able to accommodate the case, to make it easier for witnesses to attend.

They are now expected to appear at Liverpool Crown Court to enter pleas to the charges in December with a trial expected to follow in spring next year. The Crown Prosecution Service charged Calcutt, of Gorseyville, Bebington, Wirral and Gittins, from the Isle of Man, in August.
 
Gittins, a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and Calcut, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, are accused of devising a gift aid scheme to claim around £1m in gift aid from donations to the Vauxhall Adult Education Trust, now the Rotunda Community College. The Liverpool Echo reports that the college was an “unwitting participant”.

Maxine Ennis, chief executive at the college, confirmed that: “We have been helping HMRC with their investigation and are providing them with all the information that we can.”