VAT gang jailed for £1.3m fraud

THE ringleader of a criminal gang from Blackburn, who fraudulently obtained £1.3m in VAT refunds, was claimed to be dead in an attempt to derail enquiries into the group’s financial affairs.

Tasejad Hussain Jeffrey was jailed for 34 months at Manchester Crown Court yesterday and banned from being a director for eight years, for submitting false VAT claims and money laundering.

His partner Bijan Khoshabi was jailed for 22 months and disqualified from being a director for six years. Two other members of the group received 18-month community service orders.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) said Jeffrey set up an umbrella company, the Jeffrey International Group, with a variety of front companies used to falsify VAT repayment claims. These companies ranged from fast food and real estate to an airline that claimed to be picking up the route from Manchester to Pakistan vacated by British Airways.

As the chief executive, Jeffrey, along with his civil partner Bijan Khoshabi, and his sisters Asmat and Fiza Hussain, all listed officers of the company, created a network of false business transactions and records in an attempt to hide their criminal activity.

Mike O Grady, assistant director of criminal investigation for HMRC, said: “This gang went to extraordinary and premeditated lengths to stall our investigation and conceal their fraud. At one point Jeffrey claimed he had a terminal illness and his family later told us he had died. In truth although his name was removed from all company documents he was still running the business from behind the scenes.

“Every crime has a victim and VAT fraud is simply theft – theft from the UK taxpayer and an insult to honest and law abiding businesses. One of our key priorities is to identify the abuse of our tax systems by organised criminal gangs stealing vast amounts of public money for their own gain.”

All the defendants had pleaded guilty at previous hearings and returned to court yesterday for sentencing.

Asmat Sultana Hussain was sentenced to an 18-month community service order and was disqualified from being a director for four years. She was also served with a confiscation order for £4,000 for money laundering. Fiza Ghulam Hussain received an 18 month community service order and was disqualified from being a director for four years for submitting a false VAT repayment claim.

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