My former boss in a company I was working for 15 years ago was prosecuted at the time by his local Trading Standards Office. The company I was working for was and IT company, but the owner had an unrelated side-business selling car parts. Basically one of the major car manufacturers accused him of importing and distributing fake car parts. Well he claimed that the parts were genuine, though he imported them himself and did not purchase them through the official manufacturer's UK distribution channel.
Incidentally this is a common practice in many industries, because UK prices are typically higher than in other parts of the world (e.g. Europe or the US), and manufacturers are very keen to keep their distribution chains under tight control to ensure they can charge the higher prices here. This practice is unofficially referred to as 'grey import', and strictly speaking it is NOT illegal, but as said manufacturers will go into great length to stop this means by any means possible.
In the case of my former Boss, the Trading Standards Office confiscated and destroyed his goods, then took him through 5 years off grief followed by criminal prosecution and a trail, by the end of which he was found not guilty. But by then not only did his car parts business close down, and he was never compensated for his confiscated goods, but all of the other business who did the same stopped doing this. So from the manufacturer's point of view this was good result, even though no one was actually convicted - the managed to plug the hole and keep their revenues flowing.
My boss told me at the time that the car manufacturer's people were present at the initial raid and at every meeting he had with the Standards Officer, as well as through the trial itself. He had no doubt that the prosecution was being driven forward by the manufacturer, and that the Standards officer and CPS were just going along with it.
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Topic: One of my colleagues has been arrested - opinions? (Read 2450 times)