Mohammad Tanwir Khan, 66, was found guilty and charged over an £817,000 VAT fraud by Manchester’s Nightingale Crown Court on 18 August. Khan was sentenced to four years in prison, with six months added to his sentence for absconding.

Khan was originally arrested in 2013 where he was sentenced to three and a half years by Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, Khan was also ordered to pay £696,749 or have three years added to his sentence but before Khan was imprisoned he fled to Pakistan. Khan returned to the UK on 13 August 2021 where he was arrested by HMRC officers.

Khan, of Heaton Moor in Stockport, was the sole director for the import/export company Spearpoint Limited. Khan’s company claimed to regularly supply mechanical parts to clients including the Pakistan Navy, the company sourced equipment from the UK and Europe and then exported them to clients in Pakistan.