Men Jailed for VAT Fraud

In another recent prosecution by HMRC, three men have been jailed for over 14 years after conning several UK companies by pretending they had £15 million to spend to promote tourism in Dubai. They were apparently caught after attempting to fraudulently claim a £1.9 million VAT refund.

Using a contract supposedly from Dubai’s Department of Tourism, the group set out to convince the unwitting businesses that they had a £15 million publicity budget. But in reality their sham company had no contract and no money, and had been set up purely to commit fraud.

Once the target businesses had agreed to sell advertising space, the conmen asked for invoices that remained unpaid but were then used to support the fraudulent VAT claim.

HMRC became suspicious when the newly-registered company submitted the huge VAT repayment claim in April 2011, despite having an estimated turnover of only £1 million a year.

Further investigations revealed that Dubai’s Department of Tourism had never heard of or dealt with the company and also had no knowledge of either the £15 million advertising contract or the consultants.

All three defendants denied fraud offences but were found guilty after a trial in February 2014.

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