A tax fraudster who used his delivery business to make more than £150,000 in false tax claims has been handed a seven-year jail sentence, suspended for two years.
Billa Dhand, 56, who delivered fruit and vegetables to big supermarket chains through his company Dysan Fresh Ltd, created hundreds of fake invoices over a decade.
Dhand, of Hartington Road, Southall , committed the fraud to hide VAT receipts and reclaim VAT repayments totalling £153,764.84 between 2006 and 2016.
The businessman pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud at Southwark Crown Court, where he was sentenced to a total of seven years in jail, suspended for two years, on Thursday (January 4).
Court news from west London
He was also ordered by Judge Korner to do 250 hours of unpaid community work.
Speaking at the sentencing, Her Honour Judge Korner said: "This was an extremely serious offence.
"HMRC has to operate on trust that people will comply with the law and pay the tax owing. You failed to do so. It was a carefully planned and deliberate fraud.”
HMRC has not yet been able to recover all of the money Dhand fraudulently claimed from the Exchequer.
Mark Cox, assistant director of the HMRC Fraud Investigation Service, said: “Dhand thought he was above the law and could get away with cheating the system. He was wrong and is now paying the price for his greed.
“Tax cheats take money from the public services we all rely on. Anyone with information about tax fraud can contact our hotline on 0800 788 887.”
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