Couple sentenced for £885,000 fraud

Cardiff couple Mark and Elizabeth Lewis have been sentenced for their parts in a large scale Gift Aid fraud believed to have cost the public revenue £885,000. Mark Lewis was sentenced to four years' imprisonment and his wife Elizabeth Lewis was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment suspended for two years.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that Mark Lewis devised and executed the fraudulent scheme, while he and his wife Elizabeth laundered the proceeds through a variety of means, including the purchase of two properties.

Mark Lewis generated the profits by establishing a legitimate charity, the Welsh Independent School of Climbing and Mountaineering, and making false claims on its behalf for a type of charitable tax relief called Gift Aid, which allows a charity to claim the income tax paid by a donor on the sum that they are giving. It was found however, that the donations on which they claimed tax relief were vastly exaggerated.

Mark Lewis pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements with intent to defraud the public revenue, four counts of acquiring, using or possessing criminal property and two counts of converting criminal property contrary to section 329(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Elizabeth Lewis was convicted after trial of three counts of acquiring, using or possessing criminal property and one count of converting criminal property contrary to section 329(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

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