Gurkirpal Singh Bance, known as Dave Bance, 54, was the owner of ‘The Bance Group’, which claimed to have business ventures including its own airline.

He publicly stated that his businesses were worth over £80m, yet he never registered the majority of his companies for VAT or even made minor contributions to avoid HMRC’s suspicions.

HMRC’s suspicions arose when checks revealed that after Bance purchased two restaurants/bars in London –  ‘The Cuban Bar’ in the city and ‘The Beauchamp Bar’ in Knightsbridge –  he was charging customers VAT using the previous owner's VAT number.

Bance was not registered for VAT and instead kept the money made for himself, rather than paying it to HMRC.

He tried to hide his income by transferring funds to an offshore company based in the British Virgin Isles.

Bance was arrested in July 2013 and charged with cheating the public revenue. He was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison on 14 June 2016 after a trial at Woolwich Crown Court.

Confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act are now underway.

Two other people involved in the case were found not guilty.