A DJ from Scotland has been sentenced to nine years for his involvement in a £20.5m VAT fraud.
Shahid Ramzan, 40, of Dundee, was found guilty in December of tax evasion and money laundering, linked to a complex mobile phone trading scam.
Ramzan was the owner of Cortachy Wholesalers Ltd, Happyhillock Ltd and Glam Entertainments Ltd, trading in mobile phones from addresses in Dundee, Glasgow and Kilmarnock. He also set up two companies in Barcelona, Ibiplace SL and Treesandland SL, to give the appearance that he was legitimately trading across Europe. However the majority of the trading was fraudulent - the Spanish companies traded from his business addresses in Scotland, with their UK bank accounts used to launder the proceeds from the VAT frauds. In reality the companies were in reality being run from addresses in Dundee.
Between January 2003 and July 2004, he traded millions of mobile phones which led to some companies in the trading chain going out of business and left millions in unpaid VAT debts.
HMRC's assistant director for criminal investigation in Scotland, David Odd, described the fraud as 'complex and organised, making huge profits for Ramzan.'
'He knew full well that he was breaking the law, yet chose to overlook it for the opportunity of making what he wrongly assumed would be easy money, at the expense of the UK taxpayer. He now has to pay a very high price for his criminal activities.
Ramzan was charged with money laundering offences valued at over £20.5m after investigations showed that around £186m had flowed through the accounts of Ibiplace SL and Treesandland SL in just eight months.
In sentencing, Judge Lord Brailsford said: 'These were plainly serious crimes of dishonesty and the planning of these fraudulent schemes required intelligence over a protracted period of time. All society suffers and the court must express its disapproval.'
Ramzan also ran a Curry in a Hurry takeaway, entertainment promotions and mobile phone sales. When they ceased trading their fraudulent activities resulted in combined VAT losses exceeding £4m.
A confiscation hearing to recover the criminal proceeds of the frauds will follow in March.
