The fraud centred around the use of Gift Aid, the 20% tax relief available on donations made to charities, and was not stopped until an HMRC compliance team identified anomalies in claims, which raised suspicions and led to intervention by HMRC’s fraud investigation service, leading to a prison sentence for Abdul Muttakin Robbani, 54, from Chelmsford.

Following a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court, Robbani was jailed for four years and eight months last month after he pleaded guilty to cheating the public revenue and three counts of transferring criminal property.