HEAVY PRISON SENTENCES FOR MIDLANDS VAT FRAUDSTERS

4 Jul 2002 07:11 PM

Four men were sentenced to a total of 18.5 years imprisonment at Birmingham Crown Court today for a £39 million series of VAT and duty frauds involving computer components imported from the United Sates and Hong Kong.

Omar Bassam, Paul Burke, Nicholas Skidmore and David Withers controlled a network of companies and bank accounts and property in both the UK and the Cayman Islands.

In the first stage of the frauds, computer components were imported into the UK under false invoices - undervalued by up to 1000%. The value of one consignment was declared as $2,000 when the true value was nearly $1 million. The second stage involved the manufacture of false invoices to support massive VAT reclaims to which they were not entitled. To add credibility to the false invoices they 'hi-jacked' the details and VAT number of Compaq Computers, a totally legitimate company with no knowledge of the scam.

Customs' investigations led officers from Birmingham to the United States, Germany and the Republic of Ireland and proceedings are currently pending in the United States against the fraudsters US supplier. Financial investigations showed more than £85 million passing through just one bank account in the nine months between May 1998 and January 1999 and the assets of all four men have now been seized by Customs.

One man, Withers, has pleaded guilty to an associated money laundering offence.

Omar Bassam was sentenced to 18 months plus an additional 3 years if he fails to pay nearly £800,000 compensation. Paul Burke was sentenced to 3 years on each of two charges to run concurrent with an additional 2 years if he fails to pay £440,000 compensation. Nicholas Skidmore was sentenced to 7 years on each of four charges to run concurrent with an additional 2 years if he fails to pay compensation of £643,000. David Withers was sentenced to 6 years on each of two charges to run concurrently plus 1 year for a money laundering charge to run consecutively plus an additional 2 years if he fails to pay compensation of £205,000.

H H Judge Derek Stanley said that this "had been a massive assault on the public revenue". He praised customs investigators for the thoroughness of their investigation and their presentation of what had been a complex case.

"This was a concerted and sustained attack on the system, involving fraud on a massive scale," said Frank Ferguson, Customs' Assistant Chief Investigation Officer. "I am delighted that the case has been brought to a successful conclusion and would like to pay tribute to the hard work of the officers involved. The greed of these men led them into a culture of crime, their businesses supported by a web of fraud and lies. The sentences handed down today should serve notice to anyone operating fraudulently in the computer trade - you will be found and you will be punished."

Personal Details:

Name Omar Bassam
Address 34 Weavers Field, Girton, Cambridge
Date of Birth 5 June 1958

Name Nicholas Skidmore
Address 15 Rivermead, Kew, Southport
Date of Birth 21 December 1966

Name David John Withers
Address 7 Luttrell Road, Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham Date of Birth 15 June 1956

Name Paul Adrian Burke
Address 4 Harringworth Court, Shelfield, Walsall
Date of Birth 17 April 1964

Issued by HM Customs and Excise Communications Division
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