A pair of accountants accused of using a school as a veil for a three-year £1m Gift Aid fraud are to stand trial later this year.
ICAEW member Martin Calcutt, 59, is accused of duping the Treasury with bogus claims for tax relief between 2004 and 2007.
The alleged scam amassed around £1m in Treasury 5% 2004 gilt-edged securities on donations to the Vauxhall Adult Education Trust.Calcutt, of Gorseyville, Bebington, Wirral, appeared at the Old Bailey on September 9 alongside Isle of Man-based accountant, Edward Gittins, 63, a fellow of the ICAEW.
The court heard that the school, now renamed the Rotunda Community College in Kirkdale, was an unwitting participant to the alleged fraud.
Rory Keene, prosecuting, said: 'The fraud was perpetrated using a school in Liverpool as a device.'
Gittins and Calcutt appeared in court jointly charged with cheating the public revenue between May 29, 2004 and February 16, 2007.
They asked for the case to be transferred to Liverpool Crown Court to make it easier for witnesses to attend.
Patrick Hill, for Calcutt, said: 'This is a fraud alleged to have been committed in Liverpool. Transferring it would benefit prosecution and defence witnesses.
'It is in the interests of justice and convenience that the matter is transferred to Liverpool.'
Gittins, a fellow of the ICAEW, is said to be the mastermind of the alleged fraud.
Calcutt, faces a second charge that he used forged documents to help pull off the scam.
They are jointly accused of cheating the public revenue by abusing tax relief that allows individuals making gifts to charity to offset the market value of the gifts against their tax liabilities.
Judge Brian Barker, the Recorder of London, approved the case being sent to Liverpool providing the court could accommodate it.
He said: 'This is a reasonably substantial case and the majority of witnesses come from the north west.'
The court heard witnesses are likely to be called from the school and from the Isle of Man.
The duo are set return to Liverpool Crown Court to enter pleas to the charges in December with a trial expected to follow in spring 2014, the Liverpool Echo reports.