Nearly 700 tax criminals convicted in 2013
ALMOST 700 tax fraudsters and benefit cheats were convicted this year, with the top tax cheat prosecution involving a gang from Yorkshire, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has announced.
Between January and the end of November, HMRC investigations led to 690 successful convictions – up from 477 in 2012, and the highest since the 2010 Spending Review. These convictions led to sentences totalling 355 years in prison.
The investigations covered everything from complex VAT, income tax and benefit frauds to smuggling cases.
HMRC has also published its top five tax cheat prosecutions of 2013, who between them share a combined jail sentence of over 75 years. The top prosecution on its list is Operation Hornbeam – a £26m tobacco fraud committed by a gang of Yorkshire smugglers in June 2013, who described their tobacco as “wet, mouldy and smells like manure, but sells because it’s cheap”.
The plot, which flooded the north of England with more than 150m cigarettes and two tonnes of low quality tobacco, was masterminded by Doncaster men Daniel Harty and Billy-Jo Wall. Along with brothers, William and Samual Tomlinson, Ben Kirk, Peter Lawrence and Jonathan Ellis all from Retford and John Sabin from Doncaster after they smuggled cigarettes and tobacco into the UK.
Under the direction of Harty and Wall the gang created a distribution network that transported millions of cigarettes throughout the north of England to warehouses, storage yards and farms. The shipments were then broken down into smaller loads and delivered to towns and cities across the UK to sell on the black market.
Following HMRC’s announcement of tax criminals convicted in 2013, exchequer secretary to the treasury, David Gauke, said: “The Government is determined to make sure people pay the tax they owe and HMRC will come down hard on those who try to cheat the system. Honest taxpayers will be pleased that these fraudsters are now paying for their crimes.
“We have invested nearly £1bn in HMRC to tackle those who fail to play by the rules, and today’s figures clearly demonstrate that investment is paying off.”
Donald Toon, director for criminal investigations at HMRC, added: “These convictions send a clear message that tax fraud will not be ignored and tax fraudsters should be very concerned. We are well on track to achieving our spending review commitment to increase the annual number of prosecutions to over 1,000 by 2014/15.
“The vast majority of people are honest with their tax affairs, but if anyone knows of somebody evading their taxes they should call HMRC and tell us.”
A tax evasion campaign has been launched by HMRC as part of the Government’s near £1bn investment to tackle tax evasion, avoidance and fraud. This will aim to raise an additional £7bn each year by 2014/15.
