VAT fraudsters stripped of luxurious multi-million pound mansion

Two VAT fraudsters, who selected to spend an additional decade in jail slightly than pay again stolen money, have had their £2.1m Buckinghamshire nation home offered by HM Income and Customs (HMRC).

Syed Ahmed and Shakeel Ahmad, each 51, had been jailed for seven years in 2007 for his or her half in a £12.6m VAT fraud that noticed 21 people obtain jail sentences totalling 74 years.

The defendants had been collectively ordered by the decide to repay £16.1 million however the pair refused to adjust to the court docket order and served an additional 10 years in jail as a substitute.

Regardless of serving additional time in jail the cash remains to be owed and HMRC investigators continued working to trace down their hidden property.

The pair had tried to cover a luxurious Buckinghamshire home by putting it beneath the possession of an offshore firm registered within the British Virgin Islands.

The nation home – boasting two kitchens, 5 receptions rooms, 5 bedrooms and a sauna, and set in 1.65 acres of English countryside – has now been offered by receivers appointed by HMRC for £2.1 million at public sale, greater than double the information value.

HMRC has now recovered round £10m from the pair by figuring out and seizing property they owned.

Nicol Sheppard, Assistant Director in HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, stated, “This home sale is a superb end result for taxpayers and it exhibits our work doesn’t cease with a jail sentence. It’s our job to ensure taxpayers get their a reimbursement.

“We’ve recovered greater than £10 million from these two males, and we’ll keep it up in search of extra property. Any we discover will likely be offered to get better the cash they stole with curiosity.

“Anybody with details about suspected tax fraud can report it to HMRC on-line.”

Throughout sentencing in 2007 the decide described the duo as ‘full liars and devious’ and stated they has ‘created a smokescreen to cover the worth of your property and conceal this from HMRC’.