A self-employed carpet fitter who owed HMRC £110,000 in unpaid tax and then disposed of correspondence with the taxman to cover his tracks, has been given a suspended sentence, marking the fifth conviction under HMRC’s Contractual Disclosure Facility (CDF)
Keith Bradburn, 49, believed that disposing evidence would hide his fraud but he is now the fifth person to be convicted in a criminal court for failing to comply with the CDF.
Bradburn was discovered by HMRC when investigators checked the business accounts of a carpet supplier and found that he had been working for them for more than 13 years but had not registered with HMRC for VAT and had not declared any income.
The CDF is a rule that requires tax evaders to disclose everything HMRC investigators need to know within a clearly defined legal framework. These are serious legal agreements and disposing of paper work in an attempt to avoid one could lead to a criminal record.
Simon York, director, fraud investigation service at HMRC said: ‘For anyone who thought entry to the Contractual Disclosure Facility meant immunity from prosecution – think again. In the last 18 months we have prosecuted five people who had the opportunity to admit their fraud and avoid a criminal conviction. Those that chose not to comply with CDF learnt a hard lesson.
‘Bradburn should have done the right thing by declaring his income, and was given ample opportunity to do so through the CDF. Instead he attempted to hide from justice and has got himself a criminal record, and has to pay all the tax he owes plus penalties.’
Others convicted for not complying with the CDF includes Joseph Raynor, who ran three international export companies and was imprisoned for two years in May last year and Abdul Aziz Patel, a chartered accountant who received a four-year sentence earlier this year.
