Jailed gang which laundered £40m must repay £590K
A six-man international crime gang which laundered £40m in crooked cash and carried out a pan-European VAT fraud have been jailed and ordered to sell their assets to repay almost £590,000.
HM Revenue and Customers discovered the men from Lancashire, Cornwall and Kent worked for other crime groups moving about £40m of criminal money through multiple bank accounts in the UK and other countries between September 1, 2010 and November 30, 2011.
The gang was behind a separate VAT fraud. HMRC investigators tracked the gang’s activities across Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic to reveal how they fabricated businesses to make fraudulent VAT repayment claims against multiple EU member states using a complex web of transactions.
Co-ordinated action with European enforcement agencies exposed the gang’s use of bank accounts and money service bureaus to launder the money across borders before the cash was withdrawn for the gang to pocket.
The full extent of their actions can now be revealed after reporting restrictions were lifted following the final court cases.
Two gang members, Daniel Wood and Gary Fulton, both of Cornwall, were ordered to repay £70,000 and £104,228 respectively on the August 25, 2017 following their convictions in April, 2016. The money must be paid within six months or they will serve more time in prison and still owe the money.
Four other men were jailed in 2015 with sentences for the six gang members totalling 27 years.
In addition, Serious Crime Prevention Orders are in place for five of the offenders and two of the gang have been disqualified as directors.
Confiscation orders were issued to the following gang members and these have orders have been repaid:
• Mohammed Aslam, 32, ofBeech Drive, Preston, has repaid £383,637. He was jailed for 70 months in 2015.
• Amir Mohamed, 32, of Teil Green, Preston has repaid £16,165. He was jailed for 28 months in 2015.
• Tejinder Thethi, 34, of Kent, has repaid £15,395. He was jailed for 34 months in 2015.
• Adam Lulat, 25, Hawkhurst Drive, Preston, repaid a nominal sum of £1 due to lack of assets but HMRC can recover up to £237,449 from him in the future. He was jailed for 40 months in 2015.
Debbie Porter, assistant director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “The scale of this VAT fraud was huge and we brought all those involved to justice. These men were willing accomplices who laundered criminal cash for personal gain. This was money laundering on an industrial scale and we are now taking away all their assets as a result.
“This was a long and protracted prosecution which clearly demonstrates our determination to ensure criminals do not benefit from fraud. I urge anyone who suspects money laundering to contact us on 0800 788 887. Your information could help to dismantle another organised crime gang.”
The fraud centred on Omnis Capital FX, a money service business based in Truro, Cornwall.
Wood was the sole director and official money laundering reporting officer for the business. Fulton was a senior employee at the same business and account manager for many of the suspect companies in the fraud chain.
