A Birmingham money
launderer has become the final defendant to be sentenced in a
major international VAT and money laundering plot which stole £60
million from the public purse. He was jailed today for seven years
at Birmingham Crown Court.
The sentencing marks the end of a nine-year investigation by
officers from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) code-named
Operation Capri. Seventeen defendants in five trials have now been
jailed for a total of 59 years. The operation saw officers
successfully unravel a complex multi-million VAT ‘missing trader’
fraud, orchestrated by the criminal gang. The conspiracy also
included the laundering of the proceeds of these crimes and
involved the corruption of a serving Customs Officer and a bank official.
Kuldip Singh Sander of Perry Barr, Birmingham, a prolific horse
racing gambler, played a pivotal role in these offences and had
responsibility for overseeing the money laundering part of the fraud.
Adrian Farley, Assistant Director for HMRC said:
“This was
not some kind of victimless crime, but organised fraud on a
massive scale perpetrated by criminals all bent on making fast and
easy profits at the expense of the British taxpayer. This was
theft of revenue needed to fund our country’s public services but
instead it fuelled their elaborate lifestyles. ‘Missing trader’
fraud is not merely a paper fraud but often features links to
other forms of criminal activity such as drug smuggling and
violent crime.”
He added:
“We have worked closely with law enforcement
agencies in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Ireland on this case and
will not stop in our fight to win the war on crime. We will take
every action possible to identify and eradicate corruption to
maintain the integrity and reputation of our organisation.”
The court heard the organised crime group fraudulently evaded VAT
of around £60 million within the computer chip and mobile phone
industry and laundered the proceeds of the crime. This provided a
luxury lifestyle for those involved including ringside seats for
the World Title fight between Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis in 2002
in America. Investigations by HMRC involved breaking the audit
trail of businesses based throughout the UK, Ireland, the
Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
In July 2002, in one of the largest operations ever undertaken,
some 200 HMRC officers targeted private and business addresses,
following a thorough and comprehensive investigation. They
arrested and subsequently charged 17 people with a number of
offences including Conspiracy to Cheat the Public Revenue,
Corruption of a Customs Officer and Money Laundering Offences. The
sophisticated scam involved the setting up of numerous false VAT
registered businesses, bogus bank accounts opened by a bank
official from Barclays Bank and the corruption of a Customs
Officer.
On sentencing Sander, The Recorder of Birmingham, His Honour
Judge Davis QC, said:
“You have been convicted for offences of
laundering substantial proceeds of crime in a sophisticated fraud
on the revenue. He commended the role of HMRC Criminal
Investigation officers.”
Five trials have taken place four at Northampton and one at
Birmingham Crown Courts since May 2005. All have been subject to
stringent reporting restrictions – all of which have now been lifted.
Notes to editors
1. Photographs of the majority of defendants are available on request.
2. The role and details of the defendant sentenced today 5 April
2011 at Birmingham Crown Court include:
* Kuldip Singh Sander
(12.10.60) of Perry Barr, Birmingham, was sentenced to seven years
for money laundering offences under the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
3. The roles and details of the defendant sentenced on 15 January
2007 include:
* Brian Tucker (29.04.53) of Dyas Road, Great
Barr, Birmingham, was sentenced to three years for money
laundering offences under the Criminal Justice Act 1988. A
Confiscation Order was successfully obtained for
£43,119.
Tucker ran business accounts in the name of Probus
Computing and Aslan as a front for laundering the proceeds of the
fraud. He was promoted to company secretary of Talkback (UK) Ltd,
used to ‘purchase’ goods from missing traders.
4. Roles and details of defendants previously convicted and
sentenced in August 2006 include:
* Carl Harte (11.08.68) of
Manor Abbey Road, Halesowen, Birmingham, was sentenced to five
years in prison on two counts, one of five years and one of three
years to run concurrently for money laundering under the Criminal
justice Act 1988. A Confiscation Order was successfully obtained
for £42,073. He was also disqualified for ten years from being a
Company Director.
Harte worked for Barclays Bank as a ‘special
business relationship manager’ and under this role opened a bank
account in the non-existent name of Clive Charles Stocks. £3
million was laundered through this account. He also worked with
his brother-in-law, William Wright, and used Wright’s company,
Applied Services, as part of the missing trader scam.
* Raghbir Singh Hayer (30.10.52) of Grangemouth Road, Radford,
Coventry, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. A Confiscation
Order was successfully obtained for £100,651. He pleaded guilty to
money laundering offences under the Criminal Justice Act
1988.
Hayer was responsible for laundering around £1 million
through his business account Alfastar.
* Mohammed Munir Chaudhary (26.06.52) of Bradgate Road,
Altrincham, Cheshire, was sentenced to three years in prison. A
Confiscation Order was successfully obtained for £293,791. He
pleaded guilty to money laundering under the Criminal Justice Act
1988. He was also disqualified for ten years from being a Company
Director.
Chaudhary was a company secretary of a business
called Cableframe Telecom Ltd. He allowed his business to trade in
computer processing chips totalling £141 million. VAT of £21
million was never accounted to HMRC.
* Stephen Farrell (07.05.59) of Warley Road, Oldbury, West
Midlands, was sentenced to two years in prison. A Confiscation
Order was successfully obtained for £127,000. He pleaded guilty to
money laundering offences under the Criminal Justice Act 1988. He
was also disqualified for ten years from being a Company
Director
Farrell ran two businesses (with Harris) £2.5 million
was laundered through Bluestar Communications and £2.8 million was
laundered through Solmec Ltd. These companies laundered monies
generated by Prestige and others.
* Philip Leslie Harris (30.05.45) of Ferndale Road, Sutton
Coldfield, West Midlands, was sentenced to two and a half years in
prison. He pleaded guilty to money laundering offences under the
Criminal Justice Act 1988. He was also disqualified for ten years
from being a Company Director.
Harris ran two businesses (with
Farrell) £2.5 million was laundered through Bluestar
Communications and £2.8 million was laundered through Solmec Ltd.
These companies laundered monies generated by Prestige and others.
* William Gary Wright (21.06.63) of Northfields Road, Kings
Norton, Birmingham, was sentenced to three years in prison. A
Confiscation Order was successfully obtained for £38,273. He
pleaded guilty to money laundering offences under the Criminal
Justice Act 1988. He was also disqualified for ten years from
being a Company Director.
Wright worked with his
brother-in-law Harte, and used his company Applied Services as
part of the missing trader scam.
* Anthony Howard Campbell (07.02.49) of Moorcroft Road,
Birmingham, was sentenced to two years in prison on two counts of
two years to run concurrently. A Confiscation Order was
successfully obtained for £932,000. He pleaded guilty to money
laundering offences under the Criminal Justice Act 1988. Campbell
was responsible for laundering around £1 million through his
account as a bookmaker.
5. Roles and details of defendants previously convicted and
sentenced in September 2005 include:
* Enda Moen (18.05.56) of
Green Park Manor, Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland, was sentenced to
prison on two counts of three and a half years to run
concurrently. A Confiscation Order was successfully obtained for
£91,429. He pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Cheat and as an Agent
Agreeing to Accept Bribe under the Prevention of Corruption Act
1906.
Moen, a former Customs Officer knowingly provided
documents and information in return for money.
* Brendon McAleavey, (20.07.61) of Concession Road, Cullaville,
Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland, was sentenced to two years in
prison. A Confiscation Order was successfully obtained for
£12,000. He pleaded guilty to Agreeing to Bribe an Agent (Moen)
under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.
McAleavey acted
as a third party between Simons and Moen.
* Philip Wharam (08.03.59) of Roundwood Hall, Horsehill, Horley,
Surrey, who purchased a Lordship with his crime profits, was
sentenced to six years in prison. A Confiscation Order was
successfully obtained for £400,000. He was found guilty by a jury
for Conspiracy to Cheat the Public Revenue.
Wharam was a
director of a company called Prestige Trading Worldwide Ltd. Using
a series of ‘missing traders’ his actions alone saw him evading
VAT of £27 million and a further £4 million from the Dutch arm of
the company.
* Michael Marsden, (07.11.54) of Park Avenue, Barking, Essex, was
sentenced to four years in prison. A Confiscation Order was
successfully obtained for £3.67 million. He was found guilty by a
jury for Conspiracy to Cheat the Public Revenue.
Marsden ran
Mars Enterprises Inc., a registered trader purporting to buy goods
from missing and hijacked traders and making payments of fraud
proceeds to other accounts. The company was also used as a money
laundering vehicle and evaded £2.8 million in revenue.
* Leroy McIntosh (01.07.55) of Berkswell Hall, Meriden Road,
Coventry, was sentenced to five years in prison. A Confiscation
Order was successfully obtained for £3.67 million. He was found
guilty by a jury of Conspiracy to Cheat the Public
Revenue.
McIntosh collected laundered cash after it had been
withdrawn from Mars Enterprises Inc., and supervised the purchase
of high value prestige motorcars on behalf of Simons using the
proceeds of the fraud.
* David Dwyer (30.01.63) formerly of Goodrest Farm Barn, Goodrest
Lane, Kings Norton, Birmingham, and later of 41 Langford Avenue,
Great Barr, Birmingham, was sentenced to four years. A
Confiscation Order was successfully obtained for £15,000. He was
found guilty by a jury of money laundering under the Criminal
Justice Act 1988.
Dwyer ran a company called Aslan Creations
which received money by electronic transfer from Prestige Trading
Worldwide Ltd and Mars Enterprises Inc. He supervised the
laundering of proceeds of the fraud through the Aslan account. He
made regular withdrawals of substantial cash sums from £10,000 to £170,000.
* Darren Cleveley (16.12.66) of Clent View Road, Bartley Green,
Birmingham, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. A Confiscation
Order was successfully obtained for £270,750. He was found guilty
by a jury for money laundering offences under the Criminal Justice
Act 1988.
Cleveley laundered money through his business
account Modular Solutions. Like Dwyer and Tucker he was
responsible for the withdrawal of large cash sums.
6. Roles and details of defendants previously convicted and
sentenced in February 2005 include:
* Dean Simons (30.06.68)
of Harwood Drive, Hinckley, Leicester, was sentenced to five years
in prison to run consecutively to a five-year sentence he was
serving at that time for a similar offence. He pleaded guilty and
was sentenced for Conspiracy to Cheat the Public Revenue.
Simons was a prime mover behind the fraud and oversaw the
operation of the ‘missing trader’ fraud, using bogus bank accounts
and through a number of different ‘front’ companies including
Prestige trading Worldwide UK and Prestige Bv (a Dutch company).
7. Confiscation Orders of £13 million have so far been secured.
Further confiscation proceedings are ongoing.
8. Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC), or ‘missing trader’
fraud as it is more commonly known, is a highly sophisticated
EU-wide scam and an organised criminal attack on the UK VAT
system. It sees criminals import high value goods such as mobile
phones and computer chips, free of VAT, from other countries in
the EU. These goods are then sold in the UK with VAT attached, but
the criminals disappear with the tax they have collected instead
of handing it over to HMRC.
9. To view the photographs associated with this release,
please use the link below:
http://nds.coi.gov.uk/Content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=419006&NewsAreaID=2&ClientID=257
10. Follow HMRC on Twitter at: @HMRCgovuk
NAT 26/11
Issued by HM Revenue & Customs Press Office
Press
enquiries only please contact:
Contacts:
HMRC Out of Hours
Phone: 07860 359544
NDS.HMRC@coi.gsi.gov.uk
Jennie Kendall
Mobile: 07810 815832
jennie.kendall@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk
Sara Pont
Phone: 020 7147 0394
sara.gaines@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk