A Dorset builder, who evaded more than £128,000 in tax, has been ordered to repay criminal profits of £141,453 within three months, or remain in prison for a further 18 months and still owe the money
Carlo Russell was jailed for two years and four months in June 2017 for evading VAT, income tax and National Insurance Contributions from his job as a self-employed builder and carpenter. The court heard that he used the money to help buy two local properties mortgage-free, rather than paying the tax to HMRC.
Despite trading over the VAT threshold, Russell failed to register for or pay VAT totalling £128,335. He also failed to register under the construction industry scheme (CIS) for the occasions he employed sub-contractors to work on building projects.
He pleaded guilty to charges of the cheating the public revenue and the fraudulent evasion of VAT between April 2007 and April 2015, and was jailed at Bournemouth Crown Court in June 2017. Now a confiscation hearing at the same court has ordered the repayment.
Richard Wilkinson, assistant director, fraud investigation service, HMRC, said: ‘It is important that we stop criminals profiting from their crimes and recover the money to fund public services. Russell is already serving a prison sentence and if he doesn’t pay back what he owes, he will spend even more time behind bars - and still owe the money.’
Report by Pat Sweet
