Gang jailed for £2.4m VAT fraud

Six individuals, including a former HMRC employee and two unqualified accountants, have been jailed for more than 24 years after stealing £2.4m in VAT payments, following a three-year investigation.

The group used insider knowledge provided by Susanne Green, a former tax office employee, to fraudulently claim millions in VAT repayments. Green used her position working in the electronics payments team in Southend to identify unallocated VAT payments and pay them elsewhere. She then used company details provided by accountants Michael Perry and Daniel Weidner to fraudulently misallocate VAT payments to specified businesses.