Five years in jail for Rochdale VAT fraudster
A ROCHDALE businessman, who made nearly £1.25m in two VAT repayment frauds, has been jailed for five years.
Mubbashir Alam, 39, of Maldon St, set up eight fake clothing companies in a deliberate attempt to claim false VAT repayments.
Gemma Caffrey, 33, and Shabana Asim, 45, both also from Rochdale, helped Alam commit the fraud and fronted two of the fake businesses each.
The trio hijacked other people’s identities to conceal the ownership of many of the companies in an attempt to disguise their own involvement. When HMRC tax inspectors visited Alam’s premises in Rochdale, he tried to avoid arrest by persuading others to pretend to be the owners.
Alam and Caffrey pleaded guilty to all charges in July 2014, Alam was sentenced to five years jail and Caffrey to six months imprisonment at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday. Asim also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in December.
Sandra Smith, assistant director, criminal investigation, HMRC, said: “Alam went to great lengths over several years to distance himself from the fake companies he set up to commit the fraud. He stole a substantial sum of public money to line his own pockets.
“HMRC will pursue every avenue to ensure that the UK VAT system is not abused in this way. These criminals now face proceeds of crime confiscation proceedings to ensure that the money they stole is restored to the taxpayer.”
The fake companies were described as manufacturing children’s clothing, dealing in large quantities of cloth and yarn and selling sewing machines.
Sentencing Alam and Caffrey at Manchester Crown Court, Judge Rudland said that Alam had “carefully planned a diligent and sustained fraud on the public revenue.” Caffrey, meanwhile, “whilst not a part of the planning process was an essential cog in the machinery”.
The six fake companies Alam and Caffrey used for the fraud between 2007 and 2010 were: Symran Concept Ltd, Protec Industries Ltd, Bond Trading, Maple Developments Uk Ltd, Fuzion Textiles and Future Fashions.
The fraud involving the six above companies included 60 fake VAT repayment claims totalling £1,150,969, of which £685,143.41 was paid to Alam between August 2007 and December 2010. HMRC withheld £465,826 during the investigation.
The two fake companies Alam and Asim used for fraud were S1 Marketing Ltd and Tristian Industries Ltd. They created false invoices to reclaim £140,000 VAT on materials for the fictitious manufacture and sale of clothing.
