Turon Miah served the community as a Metheringham Parish Councillor while running a restaurant, Mowgli in the local village, with his younger brother Sufi Miah.

HMRC discovered that for more than three years, they were both pocketing some of the takings rather than disclosing the full amount in the books, resulting in them paying less VAT than they should have.

The pair’s fraud was uncovered after officers from HMRC’s restaurant taskforce carried out test purchases, and during follow-up visits found the company was not accounting for cash sales.

The brothers were arrested in March 2015 after handwritten notes and ‘takings’ in books were found in their homes, uncovering the entirety of the fraud.

They admitted not reporting sales of £382,933, between March 2011 and November 2014, and keeping £63,822.31 they should have paid in VAT to HMRC.

Turon Miah was sentenced to 20 months in prison and his brother received 16 months.

Richard Young, assistant director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: ‘Turon Miah was a parish councillor who should have been serving the local community but instead he and his brother Sufi were stealing from it. They went to great lengths to conceal the amount of VAT that should have been paid over to HMRC to help fund vital public services, but were caught out.

‘Tax fraud will not be tolerated and HMRC is levelling the playing field for legitimate local businesses who cannot compete with their criminal competitors.’