Altrincham man involved in £60m VAT fraud
AN Altrincham businessman was one of 17 people jailed for a £60m VAT fraud involving the computer chip and mobile phone industry.
Mohammed Munir Chaudhary of Bradgate Road was sentenced to three years for money laundering after pleading guilty at a hearing in 2006 but restrictions prevented the reporting of the case until yesterday.
Chaudhary was the company secretary of a firm called Cableframe Telecom which did not pass £21m of VAT from the sale of computer processing chips worth £141m to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). He was also banned from being a director for 10 years and ordered to pay £293,000.
Chaudhary’s trial was one of five associated with the fraud that have been heard since February 2005. The case concluded yesterday with the jailing of Birmingham-based Kuldip Sander for seven years for money laundering.
HMRC said the group were involved in a ‘missing trader’, or carousel fraud where VAT was charged but not passed on to the tax man.
The other members of the group who have been convicted over the past six years are: Brian Tucker, Carl Harte, William Wright, Anthony Campbell, David Dwyer and Darren Cleveley all of Birmingham. Raghbir Hayer and Leroy McIntosh of Coventry; Stephen Farrell of Oldbury; Philip Harris of Sutton Coldfield; Enda Moen and Brendon McAleavey of County Armagh, Northern Ireland; Philip Wharam of Surrey; Michael Marsden of Barking, Essex; and Dean Simons, Leicester.
