Any attempt to deny this would be contrary to the fundamental principles of good company practice.”But in an announcement to the stock exchange, Lord Sharman urged Aegis investors to reject M. Bollor? proposals at Wednesday’s annual meeting, saying they “present a severe conflict of interest”.M. Bollor?ay not need the support of additional shareholders if turnout is low. He owns a 25 per cent stake in Aegis and chairs its French rival, Havas.Aegis is opposing the nominations – Roger Hatchuel and Philippe Germond – saying having them on the board would be tantamount go giving a seat to competitors.. WPP, the giant advertising group, has parted company with a joint-venture partner in China after its head described the chief executive, Sir Martin Sorrell, as having “no manners, no upbringing and no culture”. Speaking to a Beijing newspaper, Yan Gang – the head of WPP’s joint venture with the China International Trust & Investment Corporation (Citic) – said Citic had decided to team up with WPP’s rival Omnicom instead, due to Sir Martin’s offensive behaviour at their last meeting. “Because of this kind of attitude, we have been forced to cease co-operation with him,” Mr Yan told reporters.
China has been one of WPP’s key growth areas.

It is currently the company’s fifth largest market in the world. Sir Martin said recently that he expects it to become the business’s third main source of revenue by 2008, when Beijing will hold the Olympic Games.WPP played down the significance of the loss yesterday, revealing the joint venture generates just $6m (£3.3m) of revenue each year, a little more than 1 per cent of the $500m which WPP collects annually in China.The dispute brings to an end an agreement which has been in place for more than 14 years. However, it had failed to perform in line with expectations over the past few years, prompting Mr Yan to write to Sir Martin several months ago.In the letter, he warned that WPP’s reputation could be at risk across the Chinese market if the group did not make a greater effort to put the venture with Citic back on track.Sir Martin responded by asking Mr Yan to come to the UK for a meeting, after which the pair are believed to have agreed to commission an independent audit of the joint venture.Although the report, delivered by Ernst & Young, was not believed to contain anything controversial, Mr Yan has claimed that he was offended by Sir Martin’s attitude at their meeting in London.It is considered a blow for WPP to lose the contract to Omnicom, the world’s largest advertising company, and its major rival.However, the group said it did not believe the loss of the deal would effect its credibility across the rest of the market.Shares in WPP did not react to yesterday’s news, closing up 3.5p at 641p, giving the company a market value of £8.03bn.. The scale of a multibillion-pound international VAT fraud centred on the UK could be larger than first thought, new government figures showed yesterday. Massive revisions to trade volumes over the six months to March pointed to a rise in the volume of goods shipped in and out of the UK by criminal gangs to gain illegal tax relief.
According to estimates by the Office for National Statistics, the fraud made up £6.5bn of the £60.3bn exported in the first quarter, meaning a tenth of goods shipped out of the UK was linked to fraud.This is a rise from its estimate of £5.5bn a month ago. If the fraud continued on its current scale, it would be equivalent to £26bn a year, or 2.1 per cent of GDP.

The figure took the shine off a fall in the UK’s deficit with the rest of the EU in April. It also came days after EU finance ministers failed to strike a deal on VAT rules that the UK believes would have helped tackle the fraud.The trade figures are distorted by fraudulent trading in high-value and high-volume goods such as mobile phones and computer chips to steal VAT.Under the scam, a firm imports the goods free of VAT, which is legal. It sells them to another firm, charging VAT but not paying it to the taxman, and then disappears. The goods can then be sold back to the initial foreign supplier while the exporter reclaims VAT. Experts call the scam missing trader intra community fraud (MTIC).The Government has acknowledged the fraud is costing the Exchequer revenue.

Figures estimate the loss in the 2004-05 fiscal year at £1.1bn to £1.9bn.Figures for the tax year that ended in April are likely to show a rise, as the money involved was £16.6bn compared with £2.7bn the previous year.HM Revenue and Customs said the figures measured attempted fraud rather than the VAT stolen. “HMRC is fully aware that operational indicators suggest levels of MTIC activity are increasing and is responding robustly to these changing trends,” a spokeswoman said.”It is not possible to make assumptions about losses incurred by the Exchequer as our increased efforts to tackle the fraud through legislation, litigation and operational initiatives are delivering results.”The UK has asked the European Commission for permission to change its tax rules to make the purchasing firm account for VAT on mobiles and chips.The figures yesterday showed the UK’s goods deficit with the rest of the world was unchanged in April, while the gap with the EU hit a 19-month low. The gap was £5.75bn in April, slightly higher than March’s upwardly revised £5.71bn. The deficit with non-EU countries widened to £3.37bn from £2.79bn and the gap with the EU narrowed to £2.38bn from £2.92bn in March..