Reinforcing precisely the point I made about VAT fraud, you get thieves making off with "hundreds of millions" of our money, and the media barely mentions it.Yet, a "gem heist" taking a "mere" £40 million – no doubt covered by insurance – and the news goes straight to the front page.
There is something very distorted about media values. Over term, VAT fraud has robbed EU member states of at least £10 billion (if not more), which is crime on a colossal scale. Yet none of our hacks – much less the politicians – seem to be able to take it seriously.
The lesson for potential crooks is obvious. Don't bother with the high-profile heists. Just rip off the taxpayers of Europe (taking as your role model the politicians) and the chances are you will get away with it unnoticed – and certainly unreported.
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