A FIFE publican was jailed for two years and fined #40,000 at Dunfermline Sheriff Court yesterday for evading #91,000 duty on beer, wine, spirits, cigarettes, and tobacco.
William Orru, 45, of Daniel Place, Rosyth, was found guilty by a jury, along with 35-year-old electronics company general manager Alexander Stewart, of Ettrick Street, Wishaw, of making 50 trips by van to France and returning with substantial quantities of exciseable goods on which no duty was paid and which were for resale.
Stewart was jailed for 18 months and fined #25,000.
Sheriff Charles Palmer then jailed three of the witnesses in the seven-week trial for contempt of court.
Alex Mackenzie, 49, of High Street, Burntisland, was jailed for six months; Thomas Fagan, 45, of Rossend Terrace, also of Burntisland, for nine months; and James Curran, 41, of East Whitburn, West Lothian, for nine months.
Sentencing them, Sheriff Palmer said: ``There were two factions of drivers and passengers who gave evidence. Some spoke the truth but you fenced and stalled and on occasions blatantly lied.
``In this court, only the truth will do.''
Earlier, Mr John Morris, advocate for Orru, said that, if he were jailed, he would become a bankrupt and unable to make any payments to the Customs and Excise.
His pub in Burntisland had been bought with a loan from a brewery.
``He has a profitable business,'' Mr Morris went on, ``and would be able to make substantial repayments to the Customs and Excise.''
Sheriff Palmer told him: ``Taxes are a necessary fact of life to pay for such things as the NHS.
``It is clearly in the public interest that the bootlegging of liquor and other exciseable goods must be stamped out and the message must go out from this court that it is not worth the risk, and a prison sentence is necessary as an effective deterrent.
``In addition to the custodial sentence, you will be given six months to pay a fine of #40,000. Failure to do so will result in the alternative prison sentence being added to the two years.''
A spokesman for the Customs and Excise said later: ``This was the bigeest case of its kind to come before the Scottish courts.
``People must realise they can bring in goods across the Channel for their personal use but once they are for resale, it is a criminal offence to fail to pay the duty on them.''
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