HM Revenue and Customs
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Tax fraud family jailed
NAT 85.09
Three members of a family have been jailed for a total of
seven and a half years today following an investigation by HM
Revenue & Customs (HMRC) into a tax fraud that stole over
£3/4 million from the public purse. A fourth family member
received a suspended prison sentence.
Amarjit Singh Sidhu (49), along with three others, stole a total of £771,000 in income tax, National Insurance and VAT owed to HMRC.
The fraudsters failed to pass on to HMRC the tax and national insurance contributions deducted from staff salaries. They set-up a sham company (Tempaid Ltd) to avoid paying the taxes and to suppress the VAT liability of their legitimate company, Multiple Construction Limited.
Last month, a jury at Reading Crown Court found Amarjit Singh Sidhu, Balwant Kaur Sidhu (his wife) and Surjit Singh Dhindsa (his cousin), guilty of cheating the public revenue. Rajinder Singh Bhattle, (Singh Sidhu’s brother in law) who pleaded guilty last year, was also sentenced today.
· Amarjit Singh Sidhu was jailed for four and a half years and disqualified from being a company director for 10 years.
· Surjit Singh Dhindsa was jailed for 20 months and disqualified from being a company director for five years.
· Rajinder Singh Bhattle was jailed for 16 months and disqualified from being a company director for five years.
· Balwant Kaur Sidhu was given a 12 month sentence, suspended for 12 months, and disqualified from being a company director for five years.
In sentencing, His Honour Judge Risius CB said:
“There was an element of professional planning. This was a deliberate attempt to mislead Revenue Investigators.”
Andrew Pavlinic, Assistant Director of Criminal Investigation for HMRC said:
“These people have not only evaded paying taxes, robbing the public purse, but have also stolen from the pockets of their employees. We take a serious view of such conduct and will actively pursue those who commit such fraud to the full extent of the law. These sentences will serve as a deterrent to anyone considering committing tax fraud.”
Amarjit Singh Sidhu was the company director of Multiple Construction Limited, a labour supply business based at Egypt Lane, Farnham Common in Slough. His company supplied labour to a number of construction companies based in London, whose contracts involved the construction of Wembley Stadium, Canary Wharf and White City. His wife Balwant Kaur Sidhu was the company secretary. In April 2004, Multiple Construction Limited transferred all its employees to another company, Tempaid Limited, run by Rajinder Singh Bhattle and Surjit Singh Dhindsa.
The Court heard that the fraudsters created Tempaid Limited in an attempt to evade tax and reduce the VAT liability of Multiple Construction Limited. The workforce was never transferred from Multiple Construction Limited. Tempaid Limited was in effect used as a hidden bank account to under-declare the profits of Multiple Construction Limited. Multiple Construction Limited would issue cheques for payment of false invoices to Tempaid Limited. The funds were then withdrawn and used to pay employee wages in cash. Tempaid Limited never invoiced Multiple Construction Limited to cover the hours worked and the taxes due.
During the investigation, HMRC found that of the 200 employees of Multiple Construction Limited only 87 were identified as using legitimate National Insurance numbers. The payroll records showed that false National Insurance numbers were used by the fraudsters for the balance of their employees.
Both companies went into liquidation in 2005. The money that Multiple Construction Limited retained in its bank accounts should have been used to settle the outstanding taxes, but was instead used to fund the extravagant lifestyle of Amarjit Singh Sidhu and Balwant Kaur Sidhu. This included assisting in the purchase of ‘Millstones’, the family home, which cost over £1,000,000, along with other properties, which were let to tenants.
Following his arrest in 2006 Amarjit Singh Sidhu immediately re-mortgaged some of his properties, removing equity of £800,000, which he transferred to India. Confiscation of assets is being sought.
This case was successfully prosecuted by the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office (RCPO).
Notes to Editors
1. Amarjit Singh Sidhu, 01/09/1960, of Millstones, Egypt Lane, Farnham Common, Slough, SL2 3LF was the company director of Multiple Construction Limited. He was also employed as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport.
2. Balwant Kaur Sidhu, 01/04/1964, of Millstones, Egypt Lane, Farnham Common, Slough, SL2 3LF was the company secretary of Multiple Construction Limited and wife of Amarjit Singh Sidhu.
3. Rajinder Singh Bhattle, 22/11/1954, of 116 Castle Green, Westbrook, Warrington, WA5 7XA, company director of Tempaid Limited, and married to Balwant Kaur Sidhu’s sister.
4. Surjit Singh Dhindsa, 10/05/1952, of 7 Quinbrookes, Slough, SL2 5RX, company secretary of Tempaid Limited and cousin of Amarjit Singh Sidhu.
5. They were charged with cheating the Revenue of Income Tax, VAT and National Insurance Contributions.
6. On 18 December 2008 Rajinder Singh Bhattle pleaded guilty to two counts of cheating HMRC of PAYE (income tax) and VAT.
7. The remaining three pleaded not guilty. They were found guilty on 15 October 2009 at Reading Crown Court.
8. The total tax loss was £771,000, consisting of Pay as you Earn (PAYE) income tax fraud of £525,000 and VAT fraud of £246,000.
9. The offences mainly relate to the period between January 2004 and April 2005.
10. The Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office (RCPO) was
created by the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005. An
independent prosecuting authority, RCPO reports directly to the
Attorney General and is responsible for prosecuting cases for HMRC
and SOCA. It prosecutes some of the largest drug and fraud cases
in the UK. For further information about RCPO, please contact
their press office on 020 7147 7746 or visit www.rcpo.gov.uk.
11. To view the documents associated with this release,
please use the link below:
| http://nds.coi.gov.uk/Content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=409058&NewsAreaID=2&ClientID=257 |
Contacts:
HMRC Out of Hours
Phone: 07860 359544
NDS.HMRC@coi.gsi.gov.uk
Sara Gaines
Phone: 020 7147 0394
sara.gaines@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk
Lisa Billard
Phone: 02380 797587
lisa.billard@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk
