David Pickup
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This article is part of the Revolving Door project of Spinwatch. |
David Pickup is attorney general to the Falklands Islands Government and a former director general of HM Revenue & Customs.
Career
After qualifying as a barrister in 1976, Pickup joined the Government Legal Service, working in the litigation and advisory divisions of the Treasury Solicitors Department. In 1987 he became head of the Judicial Review Team, acting as solicitor to the Cleveland Child Abuse inquiry and acting for the crown at the Gibraltar 'Deaths on the Rock' inquests. He was head of the chancery litigation division, between 1990 and 1991, legal adviser to the Ministry of Defence between 1991 and 1995 and solicitor for HM Customs and Excise from 1995 to 2005 and in 2005 he was appointed director general of HM Revenue & Customs.[1]
In September 2007 he left his role with HMRC to be attorney general to the Falkland Islands Government. In June 2007, he was granted "unconditional approval" by ACOBA to take up the role.[2]
Fraud allegations
In 2004, as well as around 20 customs officials, Pickup was suspended by HM Customs and Excise (now HM Revenue & Customs) after officials let a scam on alcohol occur in an attempt to catch the major criminals behind it, resulting in losses of £2bn.[3] The Economic Secretary to the Treasury told the House of Commons that Pickup and Terry Bryne (director general law enforcement HMCE) had been suspended due to their seniority. In 2005 the Financial Secretary to the Treasury announced there was insufficient evidence to charge Pickup, [Terry Bryne| Byrne]] or Sir Richard Broadbent (the former chairman of HMCE) with a criminal offence, and that further work on the matter would not be justified.[1]
Publications
Contact
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Resources
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Falkland Islands appoints tax expert new Attorney General Merco Press, 16 May 2007, accessed 12 November 2014
- ↑ Ninth Report 2006-2008 Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, accessed 12 November 2014
- ↑ Sylvia Jones and James Oliver Former Customs chief tells how fraud cases went disastrously wrong The Guardian, 23 March 2005, accessed 12 November 2014
