A Northern Ireland businessman, who was jailed for stealing more than £500,000 in fraudulent VAT repayments, has been ordered to repay £113,472 or serve a further three years in prison
Mark McAteer, from Limavady, was jailed in May 2013 after an HMRC investigation revealed he had claimed to be building water purification plants in Basra and Mosul in Iraq. However, McAteer did not have the funds to pay for the goods and services required.
Instead, the businessman told suppliers he needed invoices in advance to get letters of credit from the Iraqi Government to fund this multimillion dollar contract. McAteer used the invoices as part of a false VAT refund claim totalling £567,420.17.
Mike Parkinson, assistant director, criminal investigation, HMRC, said: ‘McAteer deliberately set out to create a false paper trail so that he could claim money that he was not entitled to.
'He manipulated a system that exists for the benefit of legitimate companies with the sole purpose of lining his own pockets.
'This hearing will serve as a reminder that action does not stop with a prison sentence. We will pursue every avenue to ensure money is reclaimed for the taxpayer and public finances.’
