Six people sentenced for part in a £20 million fraud against the taxpayer

Six people have been sentenced for playing a role in a complex £20 million fraud against UK taxpayers.
Kashaf Bashier, 43, William Lindfield, 63, Vishal Chudsama, 42, Adeel Karamat Malik, 45, Beverley Thompson, 60, and Sarah Jane Peploe, 54, have been sentenced to 23 months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months; seven years and six months imprisonment; three years and six months imprisonment; 23 months imprisonment suspended for 18 months, 15 days Rehabilitation, 150 hours unpaid work; wo years imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, 10 days Rehabilitation, 100 hours unpaid work; and 21 months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, 12 days Rehabilitation, 80 hours unpaid work; respectively for offences around cheating the public revenue in VAT fraud and related to money laundering at Southwark Crown Court.

The HMRC investigation uncovered that there were systems put in place to avoid paying the necessary VAT to the Government via the HMRC which concentrated on the activities of Winnington Networks Ltd (WNL), a limited liability company established in the Midlands. This was an “off-set” VAT fraud, whereby the VAT owed to HMRC by WNL from genuine trade in electrical goods and wholesale metals was off-set by entirely fake trade in Voice Over Internet Protocol airtime (VOIP). Between January 2011 and March 2014, this resulted in the fraudulent withholding from HMRC of more than £20 million pounds of VAT.
Twenty-four defendants were tried over the course of 4 trials. Key evidence presented in the trials included covert recordings of meetings between some of the conspirators that took place in Birmingham and Manchester in 2013.
Alexander White, Specialist Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Kashaf Bashier, William Lindfield, Assim Rather, Vishal Chudsama, Adeel Karamat Malik, Beverley Thompson, and Sarah Jane Peploe were sentenced for playing significant important roles in stealing and laundering £20 million from the UK taxpayer. Together with the other thirteen convicted defendants, they helped operate a complex and sophisticated fake system of offsetting VAT payments to the HMRC, money which was meant for public services but was instead stolen for their own selfish purposes.

“The CPS has commenced proceeds of crime proceedings against all of these defendants to claw back this illegally obtained money.”
Richard Las, Director of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said: “This incredibly complex fraud was dismantled thanks to the tenacity, skill and dedication of our criminal investigators. I hope this sends a clear message to anyone involved in tax fraud that regardless of how complex it may be, we have the skills, resources and the determination to catch you and to bring you to justice.
“The scale of the prison sentences and the significant director disqualifications we have already secured shows how seriously the courts have treated this sustained and sophisticated attack on the UK tax system.
“Tax fraud is not a victimless crime. It steals money that funds the public services we all rely on and I’d urge anyone with information about any type of tax fraud or money laundering to report it to HMRC online.”