A BUSINESSMAN who defrauded the taxman out of £160,000 over seven years has been jailed for a year.
Shoaib Zahoor Khan, 47, ran three companies from his home in Hurstfield Crescent, Hayes – G. Websites Limited, UK Copiers Online Limited and UK Photocopiers Online Limited – selling "sales leads" to photocopier businesses across the UK.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) investigators found he had submitted VAT repayment claims for goods he never bought.
Khan was arrested in November 2012 and, when he was first questioned, said his records had all been stolen, but images of false invoices were found on his computer during a search of his home.
The scam started back in April 2005.
Khan admitted three charges of providing false documents for VAT purposes under the Value Added Tax Act 1994, and one count of perverting the course of justice.
He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment at the Old Bailey on Friday last week, February 14. He was also barred from being a company director for seven years.
Peter Millroy, Assistant Director of Criminal Investigation for HMRC, said: "Khan advertised his business on a global online search engine in a bid to prove his legitimacy and enhance his business reputation – but this was a sham, as our investigation proved."
Confiscation proceedings are underway to seize the profits he made from his crimes.
