A London businessman has been given two and a half years in jail after cooking the books of his TV production company, stealing £410,000 in VAT
A HMRC investigation into Mashallah Ali, director of Eclipse Sat Ltd, began after anomalies appeared in his company’s VAT returns.
Ali would decide how much VAT he would want to declare. He submitted 16 false VAT returns showing what he chose to declare and pay rather than what he actually charged on sales between 2011-2014 aware that this information was incorrect.
Ali blamed his fraud on the fact that the business had been having money problems so started ‘messing around with the VAT’.
David Margree, assistant director, Fraud Investigation Service at HMRC, said: ‘Ali knew what he was doing was illegal. He was trying to prop up a failing business using public money like a private bank, at the expense of honest taxpayers. HMRC is determined to clamp down on this type of crime and to ensure there is a level playing field for all businesses.’
A search of the business premises found paperwork which proved that Ali had also failed to declare and pay £173,500 in VAT from the sale of previous business premises.
