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p>Two brothers have been jailed for their part in a major VAT Fraud.
Patrick Dugbo, 49, of Barrie Drive, Sinfin, Derbyshire, Solomon Terry Dugbo, 43, of High Ash Avenue, Leeds, Elizabeth Harwood, 51, of Soothill Lane, Batley, West Yorkshire and Joseph Benson, 54, of Broadstrood, Loughton, Essex, were all sentenced after being found guilty at Leeds Crown Court. The group received prison sentences totalling at five years and four-and-a-half months collectively.
Following an investigation by HMRC, it was found that the group had created false invoices to support a number of VAT repayment claims for the purchase of electrical goods for their various businesses.
Stuart Taylor, Assistant Director of Criminal Investigation at HMRC, said that the gang did everything they could to hide their crime.
“All four knew that they were breaking the law, yet they chose to overlook this to try to make what they wrongly assumed would be easy money, at the expense of the UK taxpayer,” S.
“Tax fraud is a serious offence and we would urge anyone with information about people or businesses involved in such fraud to contact HMRC’s Tax Evasion hotline on 0800 788 887.”
The investigation found that between February 2008 and November 2012, Patrick Dugbo claimed £128,000 in VAT repayments for his business, Westlake Recycling Services.
His brother, Solomon Dugbo, tried to claim £33,000 for his firm, Leeds Reuse Centre, while Joseph Benson attempted but failed to claim for his company BJ Electronics (UK) Ltd.
Patrick and Solomon were sentenced to 32 months and 12 months in prison respectively, Joseph Benson was sentenced to ten-and-a-half months in prison, all for conspiracy to cheat the public revenue and VAT fraud.
Elizabeth Harwood was found to have conspired with the three men while acting as bookkeeper, where she helped create a large number of false invoices in order to cover the fraud. As a result, Elizabeth was sentenced to 10 months in prison.
Patrick was the last of the four to receive sentencing, which was on the 5th of February 2015. Solomon, Joseph and Elizabeth were sentenced on 21st November 2014.
Confiscation proceedings are now in place through the Proceeds of Crime Act, in order to reclaim the stolen money from Patrick and Solomon Dugbo.
Two brothers have been jailed for their part in a major VAT Fraud….
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