Industrial firm pair sentenced for smuggling

THE director and the senior manager of a North West industrial company have been sentenced in court for smuggling steel pipe fittings into this country from China and trying to avoid paying £650,000 in duty.

John Sutton, 64, director of Widnes company Ashby Scott and operations manager Michael Kirk, 42, were sentenced yesterday at Croydon Crown Court as a result of a criminal investigation by HM Revenue & Customs.

Sutton, from Herefordshire, absconded during the trial, was sentenced to two years in prison, while Kirk from Orrell, Wigan, received a suspended jail term, a £10,000 fine and a community service order.

The pair falsely declared they had imported the goods, which were used in the petro-chemical and gas industries, from Japan and India, instead of China.

This was to evade paying tax, known as anti-dumping duty, which became due on import to the UK. They sent the goods through Japan and paid a Japanese company to produce false paperwork.

This stated the steel pipe fittings, costing over £500,000, had originated from Japan instead of China. When problems arose with the Japanese company they repeated the deceit and paid an Indian company to state a further £600,000 worth of pipe fittings had been made in India instead of China.

HMRC said they falsified the origin of 1,500 tons of pipe fittings in 31 consignments between 2003 and 2008 – evading £650,000 in duty.

Peter Millroy, assistant director of criminal investigation, at HMRC, said: “This plot was designed to divert substantial funds into the pockets of these two businessmen – money that should have gone to the nation’s public purse.

“Instead, they paid overseas companies to falsify paperwork in a bid to evade duty and gain a commercial advantage over other UK companies. This latest prosecution will send a powerful message to those who engage in this form of criminality to the detriment of legitimate UK companies.”

Sutton of Newton St Margarets, Herefordshire was sentenced to two years in prison. He was fined £10,000 and disqualified from directorships for 5 years.
His company, Ashby Scott was ordered to pay £10,000 compensation.

Kirk was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for 12 months. He was given a community service order of 100 hours and fined £10,000. The pair were prosecuted and were found guilty on charges of smuggling under the Customs and Management Excise Act 1979.