Postal Union Seeks To Discredit TNT

(18.03.2009) - Britain’s Communication Workers Union (CWU), which is violently opposed to the government’s plans to sell off a piece of the Royal Mail, has dredged up a bit of scandal about TNT, the Dutch company believed to have the best shot of cutting a deal, seeking to disqualify it from bidding. The facts are hazy but it appears that TNT, like several of Barrack Obama’s cabinet nominees, failed to pay its income taxes and at some time before 2006 reportedly had to write a check to the UK’s Inland Revenue for 48 million pounds in back taxes, interest and penalties, which is close to $68 million nowadays. According to the Daily Telegraph a four-page dossier prepared for the CWU alleges “a culture of non-compliance with tax matters throughout the EU” by TNT. "BvDP"


The paper said that TNT hired the accountants Ernst & Young in 2003 to do an internal investigation code named Project Bridge that included the company’s affairs in Germany, Belgium and Holland and swore the auditors to secrecy about their findings. However, in February of 2006 TNT issued a statement saying, “further investigations had ‘determined that some illegal acts had taken place.’” The issue is expected to raise questions in the House of Commons.