15 years for VAT fraudsters

TWO businessmen from Blackpool have been jailed for a total of 15 years for their part in a sophisticated £57m VAT fraud.

Robert Hulme and Keith Giles were found guilty of cheating the revenue following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court in August.

Hulme was jailed for nine years and banned from being a director for 12. Giles received six years and was banned for seven.

Sentencing the pair at Preston Crown Court yesterday Judge Norman Wright said: “In this sophisticated fraud they benefited far more than they admitted to”.

Of Giles he said that he had, “played a part but not a minimal part, he had withdrawn large sums of money in cash and was not a backroom player” adding that, “there was little or no evidence where the cash had gone”.

The men were directors of two Blackpool-based businesses, Illumination Publishing and West Coast Services, which bought and sold large numbers of mobile phones from mainland Europe.

Illumination Publishing went into liquidation in August 2002 having failed to declare or pay VAT on sales of nearly £1.9m.

West Coast Services traded with more than 70 European businesses, most of which were either “hijacked companies” or went missing after making the supplies.

None of the companies involved accounted for the VAT they are said to have charged West Coast which they subsequently  reclaimed in their accounting systems to offset the VAT they should have paid to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

HMRC said Hulme and Giles, acting together with others, defrauded the taxpayer of more than £55m by buying and selling mobile phones in a rigged market.

Peter Hollier, HMRC North West head of criminal investigations, said: “Organised criminals are attacking the tax system, with the aim of stealing huge amounts of revenue. The scale of the problem across Europe is unprecedented, and HMRC has significantly strengthened its response to this serious fraud.

“This sentencing, which was the result of a lengthy investigation over a number of years by HMRC, shows we are committed to tackling VAT fraud and to showing the criminals behind it that there are no safe havens.”

Both men face a confiscation hearing in February.