Fraud: Convictions & sentences

Care home director banned for £518k hole in accounts

• A director of a care home has been disqualified for six years after business went into liquidation with no explanation for hundreds of thousands of pounds leaving company accounts
• By 2018 it was recommended that the company cease trading and went into liquidation
• An Insolvency Service investigation found that the director had failed to preserve or deliver up adequate accounting records for care home
• Director was unable to explain the company’s expenditure amounting to £518,000

Director banned for fraudulent holiday sickness claims

• A director of a claims agency has been given a five-year ban after his company cold called clients and used false information to persuade them to make a claim
• An audit carried out by the Claims Management Regulator found the sales agents had made false or unsubstantiated claims
• Those who received calls did not meet the claim criteria, but they falsely told them they were owed a refund

Scottish tycoon jailed for £300k tax fraud

• A Scottish business tycoon was sentenced to 16 months in prison after stealing nearly £300,000 from HMRC in fraudulent VAT claim repayments
• HMRC compliance officers checked figures for its VAT repayment submission and asked for bank statements to support the invoices, director failed to produce them
• Compliance officers visited the principal place of business to find that the building was empty
• HMRC found that bank records did not support any VAT submission, with around £150,000 being claimed without any apparent foundation
• Prosecutors will be targeting director’s assets which are worth £741,639 under Proceeds of Crime laws

Banned Swindon bosses sentenced for running companies

• A Swindon boss has been jailed and two others disqualified for running businesses while banned
• In June 2010, one director made bankrupt and was required to resign directorship of both companies. But he continued as company director
• In March 2011, second director was disqualified from acting as a company director for six years as a result of his unfit conduct at another company
• The liquidation triggered an investigation from the Insolvency Service against them which found that both directors actively involved in the day-to-day running of the company
• All defendants had a total and repeated disregard for the disqualification undertakings they had signed and as a result, have been brought before the courts

Blackpool off licence boss banned over £250k tax bill

• A Blackpool owner of an off licence has been banned from acting as a director after using fake returns to avoid VAT over a three-year period
• HMRC officers seized a cashbook from the trading premises of the company. The cashbook recorded ‘day’ and ‘night’ sales. The ‘day’ sales corresponded with the declared Z-reports. The ‘night’ sales corresponded with the undeclared Z-reports
• HMRC raised assessments for the company’s undeclared VAT liabilities amounting to £89,326
• HMRC raised assessments for corporation tax liabilities, amounting to £102,125
• Director has been banned from being a director for eight years until June 2029